


Tell Me That You Love Me

by writerlady



Category: Bunk'd
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Friendship/Love, Romance, Romantic Fluff, mostly alternate universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 72,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25592926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerlady/pseuds/writerlady
Summary: A collection of Ravi and Lou oneshots that are based on prompts from tumblr. Characters are from season one and season two.
Relationships: Lou Hockhauser & Ravi Ross, Lou Hockhauser/Ravi Ross, Lou/Ravi Ross, Xander McCormick/Emma Ross
Kudos: 1





	1. Love and Light

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: I do not own Bunk'd. This collection of unrelated oneshots was inspired by OTP prompts found on tumblr.

Rain and wind whipped against the side of Grizzly cabin. All camp activities were postponed when the storm rolled in an hour ago. Thunder and branches scraping against the window panes had been sounding off ever since. Ravi noticed some water pooling under the front door. He grabbed a towel from the bathroom and packed it in the space between the door and cabin floor. 

Jorge was sprawled out on a bean bag chair near their bunks. He was the one most upset about the spontaneous thunderstorm. After spending two days in the infirmary with a stomach bug, the kid had been determined to make up for lost time with an epic kickball game. Ravi and Xander had to practically carry Jorge back to the cabin once Gladys announced the severe thunderstorm warning. Griff had tried to console him by offering to play a card game, but Jorge refused and dropped down to the bean bag chair where he continued to sulk.

Tiffany, Zuri, Emma, and Lou had all decided to hangout in Grizzly cabin until the weather cleared. Emma, of course, always wanted to spend time with her boyfriend, Xander. Zuri was happy to spend time with her crush, Griff. Lou never needed an excuse to hang out with Ravi. And Tiffany tolerated them all.

“Ughhhhh! It’s taking forever,” Jorge complained. His arm was dramatically draped over his glasses. “I hate the rain!”

Tiffany, sitting on the edge of Xander’s bunk, nudged Jorge with the toe of her sock. “You’re supposed to be solving this riddle book with me,” she said. She waved the flimsy paperback in the air. “You’ve been whining more than helping.”

“But now I’m too bored to do anything!” Jorge said. He rolled over onto his stomach on the bean bag and let his curls fall over his glasses. “Stupid rain.”

“Why do I even bother with you,” Tiffany muttered as she crossed her arms and walked over to the other side of the cabin.

“Cause you like me,” Jorge joked as he held back his curls and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Tiffany yanked a pillow off of Griff’s bunk and chucked it at Jorge. Griff and Zuri, who were playing Go Fish at the small table at the center of the cabin, laughed at their friends.

“Tiffany likes you about as much as she likes getting diarrhea,” Zuri teased.

Jorge scrunched his nose and stuck his tongue out at Zuri.

Tiffany’s face heated as she shifted her gaze to Griff. She said to him in a nervous panic, “I never get diarrhea!”

Zuri snorted and said, “Everyone gets diarrhea. The food here sucks.”

Xander chuckled from his spot on his bunk. When they had all first gathered into Grizzly cabin, Xander had offered to play a song for Emma on his guitar. She had voted yes, but everyone else had voiced their annoyance and so he settled for painting his girlfriend’s fingernails.

“Careful,” Emma said to Zuri. “Xander’s brush isn’t steady when he’s laughing.” She held the open bottle of nail polish in her free hand. She was settled comfortably against his headboard wearing a pair of warm, fuzzy socks that she’d borrowed from Ravi. Her muddy sneakers had been abandoned by the front door.

Griff sat his cards down on the table and asked Xander, “Dude, why are you painting her fingernails?”

“I’m good at it,” Xander shrugged. He held up her hand closer to his eyes. “This should dry nicely. Do you want those designs from last time?”

Emma’s face lit up with a smile. She nodded enthusiastically. Xander kissed her nose and Emma let out a content sigh as her heart skipped a beat.

“Their love is just so beautiful,” Lou cooed from her place by the large window. 

She had contemplated what would be the best spot to get cozy when the group had all gathered inside. There was a comfy looking quilt that had been disregarded on top of an old trunk under the window. She had figured it would be a nice place to watch the rain. She had sat on the quilt and stared out the window as her friends chattered behind her. Not long after, Ravi had joined her. The old trunk was his and was filled with books he had shipped to camp.

“Their ‘love’ makes Xander boring,” Griff said.

“Painting nails is art,” Emma retorted. “And art isn’t boring. Right, Lou?”

“You got it, bestie,” Lou replied cheerfully. “Though, fancy nails aren’t really my thing. It gets in the way of field dressing a deer.”

Jorge balanced his glasses on his nose and asked, “What’s field dressing?”  
“It’s when you remove the internal organs of a hunted animal as part of preserving the meat,” Ravi replied automatically as he stared out at the storm.

“Cool!” Jorge replied.

“I didn’t know you knew that,” Lou said to Ravi.

His eyes flickered to hers for a moment before returning to the window. “I remember the interesting things you say. And you say a lot of interesting things,” he said.

Before the thunderstorm, Ravi had been planning to ask Lou on a library date. He had imagined going to the camp library and picking out one of the comic books that she liked to read. They would read together at a picnic that he would set up behind the library that had a great view of the lake and her favorite kettle corn. As soon as he had approached her at the kickball game, it began to rain. As he now sat on the trunk and stared out at the storm, he wondered was this a sign that asking out his friend was a bad idea.

“Emma says a lot of interesting things,” Xander said. “Did you know there was edible gold? Like actual gold.”

Emma nodded proudly. “I taught him that. In New York, my special spa day cupcakes were covered in it.”

“And I’m sure they weren’t half as beautiful as you,” Xander said as he gave her another kiss on the nose.

“Oh, Xandy!” Emma cooed.

Griff and Zuri made kissy faces at Xander while Tiffany giggled. Emma smirked and rolled her eyes. Xander only looked slightly embarrassed. He made a goofy face at the campers, causing Tiffany to laugh harder. Happy with that response, he reached for another bottle of nail polish on his nightstand.

“I’m so bored!” Jorge groaned. He flipped back over on his bean bag chair.

Tiffany sighed and said, “I admit it. I’m bored too.”

Zuri tilted her cards down and looked over her shoulder at Tiffany. “Hey, come play Go Fish with us.” She scooted over in her small chair and patted the edge. “You can sit with me. We’ll crush Griff’s spirit together.”

“Yeah, Tiff,” Griff said brightly.

Tiffany gripped her elbow and shook her head. “No thanks.”

Jorge sat up on his bean bag chair. “I know!” he said excitedly. “Ravi, tell us a story. Tiff likes stories.” He shaped his hands into a heart and clarified, “A love story.”

“Oh gosh,” Tiffany said flatly as she rolled her eyes.

Zuri snorted with laughter. She and Tiffany both said some variation of Ravi not knowing anything about love. 

“He’s hardly ever been on a date,” Zuri started. “Once with a wakadoo that made him jump out of a plane…”

“...And once with a mop with googly eyes,” Tiffany finished.

They broke into a fit of giggles, joined by Griff. Xander focused on painting, biting his tongue as he concentrated. Lou gave Ravi a sympathetic smile that only compounded his embarrassment.

“Not cool, guys. And Ravi’s been on at least one more date,” Emma said. “I think. You went to a dance or something in middle school, right? Wait, that may have been someone else. But for sure I saw you at the homecoming dance with someone.”

“Was it mom?” Zuri teased. She rocked back in her chair and balanced herself with the table, letting her flip flops dangle.

Emma tilted her head in thought. “Well, she did chaperon that dance.”

“Thank you, Emma,” Ravi said flatly. He narrowed his eyes at Zuri and Griff. “Aren’t you two supposed to start up a game of monopoly.”

“Nah, Zuri always wins,” Griff said.

Everyone muttered their agreement. Zuri beamed and nodded approvingly.

Jorge snapped his fingers in Ravi’s direction and said, “Hey, I want Storytime, so chop chop.”

“Storytime?” Xander chuckled. “Don’t you turn thirteen next month?”

“There’s no age limit on Storytime,” Jorge replied.

Zuri tossed her Go Fish cards on the table and got up from her seat. She shoved Jorge over enough to make him share his bean bag chair with her. Tiffany followed, picking up the pillow that she had tossed over earlier, and made herself a seat beside her best friends. Next to Tiffany, Griff plopped down on the wood floor. Now all the campers were seated in front of Ravi and Lou at the window, looking up at him expectantly.

Ravi looked over at Lou for approval. She was busy opening her bottle of water and humming to herself. He sighed.

“Wouldn’t you rather Emma or Xander tell you a tale of love?” he asked the campers.

“Yeah, they’re the best Camp Kikiwaka love story ever,” Lou said. She smacked her lips from her sip of water. “Besides Morgan and Christina Ross, of course.” She smiled at Emma and Xander. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Xander said cheerfully.

“Some taken, but I’ll allow it,” Emma joked. Even though she didn’t like living in her mom’s shadow, she understood how much Lou looked up to Christina. Most people did. Her mom was a six-foot-tall model.

“And my dating record, as you all mercilessly pointed out, is limited. But Emma and Xander each have dated many, many people,” Ravi said. He would be envious of that fact if he didn’t care for his best friend and older sister so much. “They are more suited to the task.”

Xander and Emma narrowed their eyes at each other. “How many people have you dated?” They asked each other simultaneously.

“You answer first.”

“No way. I know that trap. You answer first.”

Tiffany interrupted the couple by saying, “Emma and Xander don’t read any books. They’re not going to know any good stories.”

“Hey! Not nice,” Emma retorted. She motioned to cross her arms, but Xander stopped her from ruining her nails.

“But not wrong,” Xander reasoned.

Emma blew out a breath, but agreed. “Yeah, that’s fair.” She scooted closer to the wall so Xander could sit beside her against his headboard. He leaned his head on her shoulder and hooked his arm around her elbow. “Tell the story, Ravi.”

Ravi caved. “Very well. Let me think.” 

He tapped a finger to his chin and glanced out the window. There was a gray hue to everything outside as the rain continued to pour. He looked at Lou beside him. Her eyes were bright with expectation. It was a stark contrast to the darkness outside. She was less than an arm’s length away from him. They had sat this comfortably close before and, in those moments, he wondered if she had ever noticed him as more than Emma’s younger brother. 

“Alright, I know the perfect story,” he said as he held eye contact with Lou. She smiled at him, completely oblivious to the affection in his eyes.

“Then tell us already,” Jorge said impatiently as he dug for a bag in his pocket.

Ravi cleared his throat and focused his attention on the campers seated in front of him. He began to tell them the story.

“This is the story of Love and Light…”

In a world, much like our own, there was a village where the sky was always blue and there was always light to shine. The shine would inspire the birds to sing in harmony, the clouds to drift in peace, and the people to dance happily in the streets. In the middle of the village stood a library, where all the knowledge of the world was stored. And on the steps of that library sat the guardians of the village, Love and Light.

“Wait, Love and Light were the guardians?” Griff asked. He scrunched his nose. “I’m already not going to like this story.”

Tiffany nudged him with her elbow and told him to shush. Ravi continued the story:

Love adored Light. Love spoke kindly and encouragingly to Light from dawn until dusk. That’s why the villagers were so happy during the bright daytime. And when Love was apart from Light, Love would long for Light. That’s why the villagers were so drowsy in the evening. Their anticipation for the daytime would tire them out until they fell fast to sleep at night. One day, Love was late to meet Light on the steps of the library. Light waited patiently. Finally Love arrived, but decided to surprise Light by sneaking onto the steps. However, Love noticed that Light was shining brighter than ever. It was the most beautiful shine that Love had ever seen. Did Light shine brighter because Love wasn’t there? Love sat on the steps with Light and spoke kindly and encouragingly but didn’t mention Light’s shine. Over and over, Love showed up to the library steps late and watched Light shine brightest when alone on the steps. Love, as painful as it was to accept, decided that in order for Light to shine brightest, Love would have to go away. And so, Love went away.

“Way to just quit your job,” Tiffany interrupted. “Isn’t Love supposed to guard the villagers? What a flake.”

“Shush,” Griff said in a high-pitched voice as he nudged her with his elbow and grinned.

“Stop, Griff,” Tiffany giggled. Zuri raised an eyebrow at her and the giggles stopped. To kill the fluttering of butterflies in her stomach, Tiffany smacked Griff on the arm. “Pay attention to the story, Griff.”

Griff shrugged and turned his attention back to Ravi, waiting for him to continue with the story.

Jorge tossed a red candy at Griff and said, “Leave my woman alone.”

“What did I do?” Griff frowned.

Tiffany picked up the red piece of candy as it rolled across the floor. She threw it back at Jorge and said, “You and I are never ever, ever going to happen, Jorge.”

“When did you get candy?” Zuri asked Jorge, who was munching on multicolored candies from a little baggie in his hand.

“Found um,” Jorge said, still munching. “They’re pretty good.”

“Ew,” Zuri said. She scrunched her nose and leaned away from him, but she still held out her palm. He shook some into her hand. “Ooh, make sure I get a green one,” she added.

“I want some,” Xander said, about to lean forward.

Emma stretched her arm out in front of him and said, “No he doesn’t.” She looked at her brother. “Go ahead and continue, Ravi.”

Light hadn’t realized what Love had done. So, Light continued to wait on the steps for Love to arrive. At first, the longer that Light waited for Love, the brighter Light shone. The birds’ song was the most inspiring it had ever been. The clouds drifted dreamily and in patterns that dressed the sky. In the streets, people danced and cheered in celebration of the beauty of each day. But as the days came and went, Love never returned to Love’s place beside Light on the library steps. Broken by the realization that Love would never return, Light grew dimmer and dimmer on the steps until there was no longer shine. Darkness hung over the village and sorrow manifested into rain that poured heavily from the gray sky. The birds’ song ceased. The clouds contorted themselves into fearsome figures that grumbled in the sky. People huddled indoors, leaving the streets empty and Light more lonely.

The story of Love and Light can be summed up like this: Love figured that in order to truly love Light, Love needed to let Light go. That way Light could shine brightest. But what Love didn’t know was this: Light only shone so bright in anticipation of Love’s arrival. When Light gave up on Love returning, Light dimmed. And the skies were grey without Light and there was no Light without Love.

“The end,” Ravi concluded. He clapped his hands and smiled at the group, hopeful that they had enjoyed the story as much as he had.

“Gee, way to bring the mood down, Ravi,” Emma said. She blew on her nails and admired Xander’s work. “And I thought the storm outside was depressing.”

“Yeah, that was stupid,” Zuri said. She dusted the sugary crumbs off her hands and then wiped her palms on Jorge’s sleeve.

“Come on, guys,” Lou said. She rested her hand on Ravi’s shoulder. “I thought it was tragically romantic.”

“Thank you, Lou,” Ravi said as he stuck his nose in the air. “Someone with manners. How refreshing.”

“It was tragically stupid,” Griff said. “Love should’ve just talked to Light. Aren’t they supposed to be guardians or adults or something?”

“Which is why kids will always be smarter than adults,” Tiffany said. Her stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast and that had been hours ago. From the corner of her eye, she could see Jorge waving his bag of mystery candy at her. She ignored him.

Jorge shrugged and said, “I thought it was alright.” He rested his chin in the palm of his hands and asked the group, “Who do you think would be Light? Emma or Xander?”

“I wouldn’t want to be in that story,” Emma said as she stretched. Xander sat up and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “The library steps here are gross,” she said. “Oh! Can I be the guardian of the Champs Elysees in Paris?”

Zuri held back a chuckle and shook her head. It amused her how her older sister could always slide shopping into any situation. She looked over at Tiffany and could tell that her best friend was thinking the same thing about Emma.

“Paris sounds cool,” Xander grinned. “And could I be Music instead of Light?”

Emma nodded. “Oh yeah, that’s much better to dance to.”

Tiffany rolled her eyes and said, “No, the story was way too deep for those two.” 

Tiffany was sure that she didn’t know anything about love. She was only thirteen. But she was sure Xander and Emma were more a modern fairytale than classic tragedy. She looked around the room at her friends. She didn’t want Zuri to be light. Not because her best friend didn’t have the sunniest of dispositions. She didn’t. Zuri could be tough to get along with, but so could Tiffany, which made them perfect friends. But if Tiffany suggested Zuri as Light, she was afraid someone would suggest Griff as Love.

She looked over at Lou seated at the window in front of her. Her mind went straight to the word guardian and she couldn’t think of a better guardian than her favorite counselor. Tiffany glanced at Ravi and frowned. Now that he was officially a counselor too, he and Lou were tied for her favorite counselor. Lou was like an older sister to her. Ravi was like an older brother to her. Tiffany watched Lou sneak a glance at Ravi. Tiffany winced when she saw the way Lou’s eyes lit up.

“What about Lou!” Tiffany exclaimed. “Lou’s like Light.”

Lou blinked at the sound of her name. She realized she still had her hand resting on Ravi’s shoulder. She let out an awkward laugh as she removed her hand. “Sorry,” she stammered. 

“It’s fine,” he said quickly. He scratched his shoulder where her hand had been.

Lou refocused her attention to Tiffany, pointed at herself, and asked, “Me?”

“Good one, Tiff,” Zuri agreed. “Lou’s light for sure. She’s got a bright personality and everything. Plus, she’s got a greater chance at being at the library than Emma does.”

“I’ve got better things to do in Paris than be at the library,” Emma scoffed. 

Emma thought over Zuri’s words about her best friend. To her, Lou was the most honest and caring person that she had known, with the exception of Xander. She and the Woodchuck counselor had been instant friends. She wanted her friend to have an epic love story. It was preferable that it not be tragic, but the current conversation was just for fun, she reasoned.

“You’re right, Zuri. Stop smirking; I’m not talking about the library burn. I’m talking about Lou. Bestie, you should totally be light,” Emma said.

“But then Xander can’t be Love,” Jorge argued. He dropped his hands away from his chin. “Lou and Xander together is like having pancakes with syrup.”

“Dude, syrup with pancakes is how everyone likes their pancakes,” Griff said from his spot on the floor.

“Ew! That’s disgusting!” Jorge grimaced.

“I’ve had pancakes without syrup,” Tiffany said.

“My point exactly,” Jorge said smugly.

Ravi snuck a look at Lou to gauge her reaction. He knew it had been over a year since Emma’s jealousy had caused Lou and Xander to slow dance together and conclude that their feelings for each other were strictly platonic, but he couldn’t help but wonder if Lou still felt that way. Xander was the coolest guy at camp and everyone knew that he and Lou had a strong friendship. Ravi’s stomach felt uneasy at the thought of Lou wanting to be Xander’s light.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone in the room,” Ravi said, hoping his tone didn’t give anything he was feeling away.

Griff stood up. He rubbed the back of his leg, sore from sitting on the floor. “Why are we even casting this lame love story?” he asked.

From her place on the bean bag chair, Zuri gave him a doe-eyed look and asked, “You don’t like love stories?”

Griff twisted the watch on his wrist. He always twisted his watch or rocked on his heels whenever he was nervous. “Do you?” He stuttered.

Zuri shrugged. “Sometimes, I guess.”

Jorge winked at Zuri, who was still seated beside him, and said, “The love story was my idea.”

“I like love stories, too!” Griff said quickly, rocking on his heels.

“Smooth,” Tiffany commented from her pillow seat. She wanted to call Griff out on his goofy reaction, but she didn’t want Zuri to think she was jealous that her crush was Zuri’s crush too. Even if Tiffany was a teeny bit jealous.

“Uh,” Griff said looking around the room. If Zuri wanted to cast the lame love story, then he would participate too. “Well if Lou’s light...then uh...Ravi! Yeah, sure, Ravi could be Love.”

“Me?” Ravi said with his eyes wide. His face heated up.

Emma said, “He’d be the only one oblivious enough to ditch his date eternally over his self-esteem issues.”

Zuri and Jorge laughed, childishly pointing at Ravi. 

“It’s funny cause it’s true!”

“He totally would!”

Tiffany stifled her giggles with her hand, but still nodded in agreement. Her other hand was on her stomach as it rumbled in hunger again.

“True,” Xander said as he gave Ravi a sympathetic look. “Which was romantic in your story, sort of. So, that’s cool, man.”

“Is it though?” Emma asked with laughter in her voice.

Griff looked down at Zuri. Between her chuckles she looked up at him. He offered her his hand to help her up from the bean bag chair. She accepted it, and when he pulled her up, he muttered for only her to hear, “Aren’t they dating?”

Zuri looked at Griff as if he had grown an extra pair of ears under his nose. She shook her head no to his question. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. She glanced around but it looked like no one had heard him.

“I see we’re back to the usual game of pick on Ravi,” Ravi said. He crossed his arms and glared at his friends.

Lou leaned into his personal space, so that her shoulder bumped into his, and joked, “It’s our favorite game.”

She gave him a bright smile. The room flooded with sunlight. A halo of light shone around her and for a moment he felt as if only he and she existed in the universe. He wanted to read stories with her, and eat kettle corn, and listen to odd stories from her childhood. And he wanted to do all of this as more than friends.

Zuri gasped once the realization hit her. She watched the way her brother gazed at Lou. It was the same annoying way that Emma looked at Xander. She couldn’t believe that Griff had noticed the chemistry between her friends but she herself hadn’t given it a single thought.

“Guys, look!” Jorge shouted. He pointed out the window behind Lou and Ravi. The sky had finally cleared up and the rain had stopped. Sunlight poured into the cabin. He jumped up from the bean bag chair and shouted, “Freedom!”

“Yay!” The campers cheered.

“Good, I’m starving,” Tiffany said as she rushed for the door. “I almost asked for some of Jorge’s old candy.”

“Me too,” Xander said, hopping off the bed and following Tiffany. 

“Wait for me!” Emma called as she stuffed her fuzzy-socked feet into her muddy sneakers.

“Griff, you get the kids from Badger cabin. Zuri, you get Bobcat cabin,” Jorge instructed, pointing at each of his friends. “We’re going to have the greatest game of mudball in history!”

Zuri and Griff gave Jorge a thumbs up. They were as excited about a muddy day of sports as he was.

“Let’s do this!”

“Awesome!”

They both ran to the door. Griff sped off to gather his team. Zuri stopped in the doorway and turned back to speak.

“Let’s talk later in the cabin, Light,” she said to Lou. Zuri eyed Ravi and added, “Don’t nerd things up, Love.”

Ravi couldn’t stutter out a response. Lou nodded blankly. Zuri flashed a smile and then ran off to gather her team.

The room was now empty except for three of them. Lou and Ravi both grabbed the edge of the trunk to scoot forward and stand. Lou’s hand accidentally brushed against Ravi’s hand. Both counselors jumped up from their seat as if they had been lit on fire.

“Sorry!” Lou shouted.

“No worries,” Ravi laughed nervously. He avoided eye contact as they both hurried to the front door.

Jorge held his hands out in front of the two counselors. “Nope. You two have to stay here,” he said sternly.

“Why?” Lou asked. She was amused by the serious expression on his face. Jorge was such a happy kid that he hardly ever looked stern.

“Duh, just in case there’s some weight to that whole Love and Light story.” He wagged his finger at both of them. “You two have to stay here so the storm doesn’t come back.”

“Don’t be silly, Jorge,” Ravi said as he stepped around his bunkmate. “I’m going to check around the lake for flooding.”

“No!” Jorge said. He blocked Ravi from leaving by stretching his arms out in the doorway. “Don’t make the same mistake that Love did, Ravi. Stay with your Light.” His eyes widened behind his glasses and his tone was pleading, “Because I really want to play mudball.”

Jorge shoved Ravi back into the room and slammed the door to Grizzly cabin shut, leaving Lou chuckling and Ravi shocked and alone with her in the room.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually locked the door,” Ravi said as he turned to face Lou.

“Can you blame him? It’s been miserable outside all day,” Lou said as she walked backward. “And I know how badly he’s been wanting to get outside.”

“I thought you enjoyed the rain?”

“I do. It’s good for the plants. But I feel bad for the campers, too” she said. “If it makes Jorge feel better, I’ll hang out in here for a little while.” She reclaimed her seat by the window.

The sunshine casted a warm glow into the room. It encompassed her.

“You would certainly be fitting to be Light,” Ravi said from his place by the door. He sounded breathless and he was gazing at her as if she hung the stars. “You make me happy.”

She smiled at him. It wasn’t her usual friendly smile that she regularly wore. It was softer and made her eyes seem warmer.

“I do?” she asked.

He thought about backpedaling and amending his statement to something along the lines of her making all of the campers and counselors happy. He didn’t want to risk losing her friendship, but he also didn’t want to risk losing a moment he may never have again.

“You make everyone you meet happy, Lou. You’re such a great person,” he said. He felt like a coward. He wanted to run out of the room and not come back.

“Oh…” she said.

Ravi’s heart flipped in his chest. He had heard the disappointment in her voice. Hope surged through him like electricity.

“I...um…” He stammered. He let out a breath and stepped away from the door. He kept his eyes on an old sock Griff had abandoned on the floor.

“Yes?”

“You do,” he said quietly. “Make me happy.” 

He looked up at her. She was giving him the soft, warm smile from before.

“You make me happy too,” Lou sincerely said.

She was surprised by his sentiment. Sometimes she felt like he only hung out with her because their best friends, Emma and Xander, were dating. She had even tried flirting with him in the past, but he never acknowledged it. It didn’t bother her. She enjoyed the time they spent together and continued to wait patiently for her crush on him to go away. Three years and counting.

He was nervous. He was afraid of rejection. He was replaying her words in his head. Slowly, he walked over to her and asked, “Do you mind if I sit here with you?”

She beamed. “I’ve been waiting for you to do just that.”


	2. Lady Emma's Picnic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lady Lou Hockhauser unwittingly changes Mr. Ravi Ross's aspirations in life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I do not own Bunk'd. This collection of unrelated oneshots was inspired by OTP prompts found on tumblr.

The bright spring weather served as a picturesque backdrop to the park, which was as well manicured as the gardens behind the countryside manor. A well-swept path wound through all 1,760 yards of the park, twisting through pine, poplar, and pear trees. The air had a sweet and woodsy aroma that the small party had commented on several times during their picnic on the lawn. The small gathering had been in honor of Lady Emma Ross, who had just turned eighteen. The picnic had featured a marvelous spread of fruits, cheeses, and cakes. 

“Lemon sponge cake! Ooo, this one has strawberries! Oh, Mama, I cannot wait to be eighteen,” eleven-year-old Miss Zuri Ross exclaimed, making a mess of her expensive pink dress as she packed cakes on the top layer of her skirts. “Papa, pass me that pastry. Yes, with the berries!”

Everyone laughed cheerfully as they watched the child sprint off with her nanny toward the house as a few treats scattered behind her on the lawn. Such an indulgent lunch had to be followed by a walk through the park. An even number of walking partners had been established beforehand. The pairs took their places and began their parade down the path.

As he walked several feet behind his eldest sister, Mr. Ravi Ross wondered if most young men his age would have been grateful for the chance to partake in such a mature outing. He doubted it. Most of the sixteen-year-old fellows that he knew were more interested in the freedom that boarding school and college offered them than courtship. In fact, Mr. Luke Ross, was supposed to be here in Ravi’s place. Luke was Ravi’s eldest brother by a year and had been informed earlier in the week that he was to serve as a walking companion for Emma’s party guest. Ravi found it suspicious that Luke had had an incident the day prior during a horseback ride. Ravi suspected that Luke’s absence had more to do with his laziness than a sore back. Either way, Ravi was informed that he would be taking his older brother’s place. 

“No, this is not...But...I am only sixteen,” Ravi had stuttered out his argument the morning of Emma’s picnic. “Can you do it, please, brother? Your experience with these sorts of matters far exceeds mine.”

“It is not difficult, brother, to exceed zero experience,” Luke had teased. He crossed his arms behind his head and kicked his feet up on the chaise lounge. “You will do fine.”

Mr. Ravi Ross hadn’t had a moment of comfort since being informed that he was to take his brother’s place. In fact, his discomfort had actually worsened with the arrival of Emma’s guests. By the end of the picnic, the prevailing source of his discomfort was Lady Lou Hockhauser, the very person he was paired to walk with. All during the picnic she had been polite and sweet and retelling stories that had everyone laughing and Emma declaring her as her newest friend. Ravi didn’t speak at all. He busied himself with pretending to eat and considering the ethics of faking a sudden illness.

The procession through the park was led by his sister, Lady Emma Ross, and Mr. Xander McCormick, a viscount. Lady Lou Hockhauser and Ravi followed behind them. The Marquess and Marchioness of Elder York, who were Emma’s birthparents and Ravi’s adopted parents, were next. And the Earl of Mainesdale and the countess, the viscount’s parents, made up the rear.

“They look happy, do they not, Mr. Ross?” Lady Lou Hockhauser asked Ravi politely. She gestured with her folded fan toward his sister and the viscount ahead of them.

“Their faces are obscured from my view as we are behind them at a respectable distance,” Ravi replied matter-of-factly. He stared straight ahead to a tree in the distance that towered over the rest.

“Then I must sense their cheerfulness from here,” she replied. “And there’s a sweetness to it.” She grinned at him. Her eyes traced the profile of his face. “Yes, and it has become the sweetest of fragrances.”

“Cheer gives off no fragrance. I assure you it is the flowers off the path.”

“Oh.”

Ravi didn’t chance a look at the lady at his side. He was certain that he could feel the disappointment emanating from her. Luke would have handled this situation with far greater charm, Ravi was sure. He opened his mouth to speak, but could think of nothing he’d consider charming. He had never been in need of charm before. He hadn’t wanted to be charming before.

His throat felt dry, so he cleared it to fill the silence.

“Then I am sure those flowers would make a lovely perfume,” the young lady said. “Perhaps if there is another occasion for a picnic you would be so kind as to give me a tour of your garden, Mr. Ross.” She twirled the fan in her gloved hands. “I successfully made one once, a perfume. My mother has the loveliest rose garden. One summer I could not resist. However, I have not been so fortunate since. The aroma has not been the same. But I persist.”

“Hmph,” Ravi hummed in response. 

Lou inhaled deeply. “Indeed. Most certainly the smell of cheer,” she said.

“Hmph.”

“Indeed.”

A bird chirped in one of the trees towering overhead. 

Ravi believed himself to be much better suited to matters of the mind rather than those of the heart. His aspirations had been only those related to education. He most wanted to attend college. For the Ross children, boarding school had been out of the question. Their parents refused to send them away. None of his siblings had minded, though he himself opposed the restriction. He was grateful to the governess that he shared with his siblings, but she had reached her limit in what teaching she could provide him. As had his adopted mother and father, the Marquess and Marchioness of Elder York. Ravi had only secured their promise of sending him to college when the time came after he sulked for several months. Early in life, he had identified knowledge as his strength. Heat crept beneath his collar as he pondered if he’d discovered Lady Lou Hockhauser as his weakness.

“I suppose you detest the thought of losing your beloved sister,” Lou said, interrupting her walking companion’s thoughts. “Do not fear, Mr. Ross. My cousin is one of the most honorable young gentlemen in England. He would make a wonderful match for Lady Emma Ross.”

Ravi blinked. He kept his eyes forward though he could feel her gaze. While at the picnic he had mentally noted the flecks of green in her irises. His stomach rumbled, rebuking him for spending more time sneaking glances at her during the picnic than eating lunch. He tried not to think of how those green eyes were now looking at him on this walk.

“Agreed,” he finally responded. His voice was void of any emotion.

“Agreed?”

“I agree.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw her lips twitch, but she remained silent.

“Morgan Ross!” Ravi heard his mother laugh behind him. “You are an utter fool,” she declared with a voice full of admiration. He could practically hear them leaning into each other as if they couldn’t walk without the support of the other. He resisted the urge to pout and roll his eyes at the charm his parents certainly did not lack.

He turned his head slightly to see Lady Lou Hockhauser peak over her shoulder to smile at his parents, who were besotted with each other no matter the time or day. It made Ravi more self-conscious to think that his walking companion would’ve preferred the company of his lovesick parents to his own.

“How lovely,” she murmured.

Nervousness crept in and his eyes shifted from the clear blue sky to the ground. He felt that he needed to say something. Anything.

“You do know how to read, correct?” Ravi asked. He immediately felt faint. That was not at all charming. That was not at all what his brain had told his mouth to say. He meant to ask if she enjoyed reading.

“On occasion I have been successful,” Lou responded. Her lips dripped sarcasm. “Though you may have to be so kind as to remind me what those heavy items stuffed with paper are called again.”

“Books,” he responded automatically. 

After the words escaped his mouth, he was certain he’d die among the willows that dipped into the lake. For if he didn’t sacrifice himself to the waters out of unbridled embarrassment then, from the glare Lady Lou Hockhauser was giving him, she would undoubtedly toss him to its murky depths.

“If you steal another kiss Elder York, I will have cause to believe that the countess and myself were on this walk to chaperon you and not the young people,” the Earl of Mainesdale teasingly shouted from the back of the group.

Lady Lou Hockhauser’s glare softened. She folded her lips but her shoulders still shook from laughter. She looked over her shoulder to the Marquess and Marchioness of Elder York.

Now Ravi felt embarrassed because of his lovesick parents. Morgan Ross had married for love and not to satisfy the conditions of birth and wealth that came with belonging to the gentry. When he married Christina, who came with a modest dowry, instead of Gladys, who came with a sizable fortune, it was the subject of fashionable teas across the country. However, it was forgivable as Morgan Ross had vast wealth of his own and was one of the most charming and respectable men in England. What became more odd was that his new wife, the Marchioness, found it suitable to birth the Marquess only one child--a daughter at that--and adopt the rest of their children.

“Papa,” Mr. Xander McCormick called over his shoulder in response to his father, “you must not upset the marquess or he may not entertain another story about your sporting.” Xander flashed a bright smile at the group behind him and Emma.

“The viscount is right, Mainesdale! And I should hate to lose a half hour of such an exciting tale,” the marquess said with a chuckle and loud enough for everyone to hear.

Xander lowered his voice so that only Ravi and Lou would hear what he said to Emma next.

“More like two hours,” the viscount joked with a wink.

Lou rolled her eyes at her cousin, but Emma looked thrilled.

“Mr. McCormick! You should not poke fun at your papa,” Emma giggled as she twirled a ringlet of her hair that had escaped her bonnet.

Xander grinned at her as if he were hearing music for the first time. Suddenly, Emma stumbled. She yelped but Xander steadied her by the forearms. 

“Are you okay?” Xander asked, voice full of concern.

“Thank you, Mr. McCormick,” Emma said dreamily.

“Allow me to offer you my arm, Lady Emma Ross,” Xander said as he offered his upper arm for her to hold.

Ravi watched his sister delicately wrap her hand over Xander’s arm. Even though she spoke above a whisper, he heard her say, “You may call me Emma.”

“Emma,” Xander whispered back with glee.

Ravi felt an inkling of jealousy. His sister had her companion by the arm while Lady Lou Hockhauser had noticeably distanced herself from him after the book comment. At least three people could squeeze into the distance between her and him. Ravi chanced a look over his shoulder to gage his parents’ response to the closeness of his sister and the viscount. His father looked pleased but his mother looked uncertain.

Ravi knew his mother was nervous about the day’s events. Though she had come from a comfortable upbringing, with a title of her own, she was now the mother of odd children. And odd children did not marry well. Lady Emma Ross, though exceptionally beautiful and even more kind, was gullible to a fault. Emma had once traded a gold necklace for beans a farmer had told her were magical. Mr. Luke Ross, though handsome and charismatic, lacked manners. Ravi had once seen his brother pick his teeth with a toenail. His youngest sister, Miss Zuri Ross, though adorable and witty, was mischievous. And, unfairly so, mischievous little girls weren’t as tolerable to society as mischievous little boys. It was obvious that she would grow to be as beautiful as her older sister, but beauty couldn’t guarantee either of them much. Add in the fact that all but one were adopted from various countries and, according to the rules of high society, it made perfect sense not to socialize more than necessary with the Ross family. And so, much of high society ignored them. Not that Morgan and Christina minded. They were perfectly happy in their own world, hidden away at their countryside estate with their beloved children. But that didn’t mean their children were content to live the same life. Emma, being eighteen, wanted to experience courtship like so many of her peers.

“Your mama appears unhappy,” Lady Lou Hockhauser said as she followed Ravi’s line of sight. She closed a little of the distance between them. “It is a shame to see her frown. Her beauty is not spoiled by it, not at all. However, she is such an amicable woman that seeing her upset makes my heart feel like a chicken raised by geese.”

Ravi felt his heart like a drumbeat when Lou stepped closer to him to speak. Two people could still squeeze into the distance between them, but it was enough to inspire a rhythm within his ribcage. He had no idea what to do with these peculiar feelings and he longed for their walk to be over as much as he longed for it to continue. He replayed her words in his mind: makes my heart feel like a chicken raised by geese.

Ravi finally responded, “That is a remarkably silly statement to make.”

This time Lady Lou Hockhauser did not hold her tongue. Her eyes flared with anger. “How dare you continue to be so unkind to me, Mr. Ross. I will not allow you to pass judgement on my feelings or how I choose to voice them.”

“My apologies, Lady Lou Hockhauser. My intention was not to offend you,” Ravi said frantically. He had been walking with his hands folded behind him, but now he was waving them about.

“Was it not? You have been absent from this walk from the moment we left the picnic. I understand that being sixteen years of age keeps you from being mature enough to engage in polite conversation, however there is no excuse for your lack of manners,” Lou reprimanded him.

“I am very mature!” 

He had responded angrily, offended that she had thought him immature when his older brother had been the one to childishly refuse his parents’ request by lying about a riding injury. He was angry because it was her fault, after all, that he had been so ill-mannered. How could she expect him to remember manners when he could hardly remember anything since her carriage had arrived that morning. He had been reading a book on etiquette when he saw her through the window. She had petted the horses of their carriage gently and smiled up at them as if she appreciated them bringing her and her relatives on the journey. He had never thought about thanking the horses. 

“Your tone, Ravi,” Emma threatened him over her shoulder, speaking through clenched teeth. She had heard his outburst. She gave him a glare so intense that it could pierce bone.

“I apologize, Emma,” he said.

He did feel some guilt at his outburst. He knew how important this afternoon was to Emma. She had received plenty of attention from the neighboring countrymen, all inquiring of her intentions to marry and offering her their friendship and loyalty. But none of them interested her. When a letter from the young viscount from Mainesdale arrived, it was a shock that sent waves of gossip from the market of the closest town to the parlor of the nearest neighbors. The Marchioness huffed at the breakfast table and to her family accused the viscount of snooping around for a wife. Morgan attempted to calm Christina by saying that the viscount was only eighteen and had no intentions of marrying just yet. He added that he had met Xander in London on a few occasions and had been a longtime friend of his father, the earl. Christina was momentarily appeased until Morgan suggested that a courtship between Emma and Xander wouldn’t be surprising if the two had ever met. After that, Emma begged Christina to respond to the letter and invite the young viscount to a picnic at their estate.

“And to you, Lady Lou Hockhauser, I apologize. Again,” Ravi said once his sister had returned to her conversation with Xander. Ravi spoke the words without facing Lou.

“Apology not accepted,” Lady Lou Hockhauser replied.

“Thank...Excuse me...um...not accepted?” He turned his head sharply toward her.

“Yes, Mr. Ross. Not accepted. As in I do not accept your apology.”

Ravi glanced ahead of him, afraid that Emma had overheard. She hadn’t. She was still holding tight to Xander’s arm and giggling. Ravi looked back toward his mother and father. They certainly hadn’t overheard. The Marquess must have said something to ease Christina’s nerves as she no longer looked uneasy. Instead she was smiling up at her husband as he leaned in for a kiss. He rolled his eyes and faced forward. He thought to himself that of course every fellow but himself would know how to go on an after-picnic walk. He no longer felt angry at his walking companion for causing him such confusion. Instead he longed to remedy his offense to her and berated himself for not knowing how.

A dog barked in the distance behind the group. Emma’s giggles mingled with the song of a few birds perched in one of the park’s trees. The Countess of Mainesdale sang softly as someone hummed along.

“It was obvious from the moment we stepped out of the carriage that Xander would be smitten with Lady Emma Ross,” Lady Lou Hockhauser said sweetly, interrupting Ravi’s thoughts. She opened and closed the fan in her hands. “I would not be surprised if my cousin wrote fewer than ten love sonnets on the carriage ride home.”

Ravi was in such a shock that her tone had changed so quickly that he did not immediately respond. Once he did recover, he thought it wise to think over his words before he spoke next. He was sure that one misplaced word would be both detrimental to his health, for the lady would surely strike him with her fan, and to his heart, for if she refused to speak to him again he would never recover. Both thoughts made him feel like a fool.

“I would not be surprised if Emma fell to the ground and pleaded with my mother to insist on you all staying longer,” Ravi replied. “Surely between her only cup of tea and scolding our father for his weak joke about the cheesecake, Emma sent Zuri with a note to have rooms prepared. For no less than a week, at that.”

Lady Lou Hockhauser giggled. His heart soared and he couldn’t help but look over at her. Her eyes were bright with mirth. Ravi felt flush and turned away quickly.

“Is your younger sister so devoted to her eldest sibling?” Lou asked.

“Oh no, Lady Lou Hockhauser. You may be assured that Zuri was promised the finest of Emma’s ribbons and bonnets as Zuri would not have so much as listened to Emma’s request for less.”

Lou giggled again. Ravi, impressed with himself, stood more confidently. He had now earned two giggles. But the feeling was short-lived once he remembered how he had earned her ire moments before. He knew he must stop staring ahead at this tree and that if he were ever going to convince her of the sincerity of his apology. 

He cleared his throat and turned toward her. “I offer a new apology, Lady Lou Hockhauser. Please forgive my absence during the beginning of our walk. You now have my full and devoted attention.”

He hoped that his expression didn’t reveal how devoted his attention was. Emma being smitten was one thing, but Ravi doubted Lou would find his sudden feelings of affection so endearing.

She looked him in the eye and it felt like she had just flung a bucket of cold water at him.

“Mr. Ross, I forgive your absence.”

“Thank you,” Ravi exhaled.

Lou looked away and toyed with the fingers of her gloves. “Though, I cannot forgive your remark. You sounded as haughty as those girls in London, of whom I am not fond. I should not be branded as silly for the way I enjoy speaking. ‘A chicken raised by geese’ is much preferred to ‘It makes me sad.’”

She added softly, “At least to me.”

It was the quietest she had spoken all day. Ravi resisted the urge to reach out for her hand. Not only would it have been extremely inappropriate, but he had never held the hand of a non-relative. He folded his hands tightly behind his back.

“I regret my choice in words. Sincerely, I do. If I could retract them from your memory along with anything else you found upsetting about our time together this day, I would do so both immediately and gladly.” Ravi paused before continuing. “I should empathize greatly with being misunderstood for the things I enjoy, Lady Lou Hockhauser. My siblings and surely the neighbors I have befriended think of me as the oddest of all the Ross children.”

“Because of your rude manners,” Lou said, now looking at him.

Ravi winced at the sharp pain in his heart. He noticed that her eyes were smiling. It did not reach her lips, however.

“Oh obviously because of my rude manners,” he said with a small smile.

Lou couldn’t hold back her own smile then. It was the same broad smile from the picnic that had caused him to spill his first plate of uneaten food. Fortunately, the only one to notice was one of Zuri’s many pets, who ate the feast with joy. He felt confident again, having had one of those smiles now directed at him.

“As well as my love of books and learning,” Ravi continued. “I believe I will never tire of learning new things.”

“Then you are very odd when compared to most of the young men in London that I have had to suffer through.”

Lou’s reply reminded Ravi of another reason why this picnic was so important to Emma. It was spring, which meant the coming out season was upon them. At eighteen, this year would have been Emma’s first step into elite London society. Traditionally, her parents would’ve held a ball in her honor and young men with titles, fortune, or both would’ve been throwing themselves at the fancy shoes she insisted on wearing. But with their family being so odd in the eyes of the gentry, picnics and afternoon teas were more practical than balls. A walk through the park of their estate would be as grand as Emma could hope for. Even though Emma said she did not mind and that she was much happier with picnics and dinners, Ravi and his siblings knew she desired the elaborate gown and artful dancing that others her age had the opportunity to enjoy.

“May I ask why are you not in London?” He asked Lou. “It is still early in the season. I am sure you have a number of formal events to attend. Being as you are so…”

He folded his lips, mortified that he had come so close to calling her beautiful when he finally had thought he had the concept of thinking before speaking under control. She raised her eyebrows at him, but he remained silent.

“If you think your love of learning makes you an oddity, then you will be aghast to find that I much prefer carving and hunting to needlepoint or French. I doubt that I will be finding a husband in London, Mr. Ross, much to my father’s chagrin. He and my mother seemed relieved at the prospect of my leaving the season early to stay with my aunt, uncle, and cousin Xander.”

By now he had lost count of the number of times that day that Lady Lou Hockhauser had caused him a mix of emotions. He was both delighted and saddened by her confession. Delighted because such strange interests had to make her as odd to high society as he and his family. He didn’t let his mind wonder on why he wanted her to fit in with the Ross family. And saddened because he didn’t want her to experience the same exclusion that Emma faced.

“Does that...um...make your chicken heart...oh, dear, I am sure that I am saying this wrong,” Ravi said.

“Does it make my heart feel like a chicken raised by geese?”

Ravi nodded. Lou shook her head and said, “No, Mr. Ross. It does not. I do not seek an advantageous courtship or marriage. My only wish is to carve things and make things and talk the way that I like to talk.”

“I thought all young ladies wished most for suitable marriages?”

“I think most people hope for love and wish for purpose, Mr. Ross.”

Ravi was awestruck. So much so that he stumbled over his own feet. Fortunately for him, Lou had reflexes as swift as her cousin’s, and steadied him by the forearms.

“You say the most interesting things, Lady Lou Hockhauser,” Ravi said, unable to stifle the awe in his voice.

“I will take that as a compliment,” she replied, breathlessly.

“If you offer the young lady your arm, son, she will be able to both keep you steady and keep the group moving forward,” Morgan said. He and Christina had caught up to their youngest son.

Embarrassed yet again, Ravi released Lou’s forearms. He looked to his mother for comfort, but she looked as if she would burst from laughter. He felt betrayed until she indicated with her free arm how he should extend his to Lou.

“Um...Lady Lou Hockhauser?” He stuttered as he offered her his arm.

“Thank you,” Lou said as she slipped her hand through his arm.

Her closeness gave him the same feeling he got whenever he chanced to see the sun rise: a blend of excitement, anticipation, and wonder. They soon fell back in step with Emma and Xander only a few feet ahead of them again. His parents were a few feet behind. He thought about Lou’s words: most people hope for love and wish for purpose.

“I fear I must disagree with you to some degree, Lady Lou Hockhauser,” Ravi spoke after a period of calm silence. “I do agree with you about wishes. My wish is to study abroad and in the knowledge that I gain I believe I will find purpose. But I do not dare to hope for something as unattainable as love.”

To be honest, he thought to himself, he hadn’t given much thought to romantic love. He had never before been in want of such love; much like he had never before been in need of charm. As if fate would have it, on this day he fancied both, but felt he could attain neither.

Lou smirked at him and said, “That is because you are young.”

“I feel as though I must remind you that you are only two years older than me,” Ravi said with a hint of irritation in his voice. “My age does not make me blind to the fact that no young lady in England would have me. My family is far too odd. And if an ambitious young lady and her parents were inclined to consider a Ross to marry--for access to our fortune--she would most certainly overlook me and pursue my charming brother.”

He clamped his mouth shut and focused on the spring sky above. He hadn’t realized the insecurities he harbored in regards to courtship until he spoke them aloud. He wondered if Lady Lou Hockhauser thought him at best insane or at worst ridiculous.

“Not to mention my other faults,” he said with a forced ease.

“Like being ill-mannered and rude,” Lou teased.

“You may add being a ‘know it all’ as my eldest brother and sister have called me on numerous occasions to the list.”

Lou giggled again and Ravi couldn’t believe it. Not only was her hand on his arm but he had earned a third giggle. The air smelled sweeter and he felt like a fool for wondering if it was her cheerfulness.

“So, I must disagree, Lady Lou Hockhauser. I do not hope for love.”

He felt guilty for lying to her.

“Then together we shall hope not for love, Mr. Ross,” she said as her eyes brightened. “We must encourage each other to follow only after our wish: purpose. And be as stubborn about it as my hound, Hank, with a quail.”

“So, you really do hunt?”

“Indeed, I do.”

“Then if you are to ever forgive me for earlier, I beseech you to take my place on my father’s next hunt. I would gladly take up your needlepoint as I am quite good.”

Lady Lou Hockhauser laughed and it was contagious. Even the sprouts on the branches teetered in the breeze. He laughed too and shifted his gaze to the ground, shyly. He hoped she didn’t find him uninteresting because of his needlepoint hobby now that he had confessed his skill at it. He looked up at her and saw her eyes set on Emma and Xander ahead of them.

His sister and the viscount were entranced with each other. Ravi wondered how they were able to keep from continuously stumbling without breaking their gaze.

“So, you and I are set for purpose, Mr. Ross,” Lou said. She blinked and returned her attention to Ravi. “Love must be reserved for others, like my beloved cousin and your darling sister. By the evidence of their affectionate gazes their hopes have surely been met.”

“I agree wholeheartedly, Lady Lou Hockhauser.”

Ravi observed over his shoulder that Christina and Morgan were walking in the exact same lovestruck way that Emma and Xander were. 

“Reserved for them and my madly in love parents,” Ravi added.

Lou glanced back at his parents and sighed. “Oh no, Mr. Ross. Look at your family.” She frowned at him and her eyes dimmed. “You are doomed to love.”

“No fear. I am adopted,” Ravi said with a grin.

“It is environmental and because of your upbringing you are destined for the kind of love your parents share and the kind of love blossoming for your sister.” 

His mind went fuzzy at the look in her eyes. As if he would be something that she missed.

Lou continued speaking, “I almost believed that I had a companion on my journey toward purpose. Oh, don’t look so worried, Mr. Ross. Remember, most people hope for love. Count yourself among the fortunate many.”

“My family has been fortunate…” he said more to himself than to her.

The first odd occurrence in his father’s life was choosing love over status. It resulted in an oddball family hidden in the countryside, thriving in the home that had been shaped by pure love. Because of that love, the Marquess and Marchioness encouraged their children to be who they were. Ravi had been gifted an entire library in one wing of the manor for his thirteenth birthday. His mother had mandated that once a month the entire family had to join him for reading because she knew it made him happy. Morgan did not shoo Zuri away when she expressed an interest in the finance logs that he kept in his study. She spent as much time in her father’s office as her father did, asking questions and making him laugh with her witty retorts. Luke would draw with his mother in their garden and she praised his work. Even the picnic that Christina arranged that day was out of love for her daughter. Maybe his environment did shape his want for love? 

“Perhaps you are right. Maybe I am doomed for love,” Ravi said. He looked deeply into her eyes, feeling bolder than he had ever felt and not being afraid of it anymore. “But how will I ever gain your forgiveness if I abandon you on our journey toward purpose?”

“How do you know that I have not forgiven you already?” Lou asked, not breaking eye contact.

“You said that you did not accept my apology.”

“Ah, I did,” she said breathlessly. She blushed and turned away quickly. She stammered out, “And I’m a lady of my word.” She cleared her throat and her voice returned to its steady, cheerful rhythm as she joked, “So now I suppose I will never be able to forgive you. You have not only called me silly, but you have left me to pursue my wishes on my own.”

Ravi made a show of tapping his chin and narrowing his eyes. “Hmm,” he hummed. He dramatically snapped his fingers and he said, “I have found the solution, Lady Lou Hockhauser! What if I do not abandon you on your journey toward purpose. Let us both wish for purpose and not stop at wishing, but encourage each other to read and study and carve and hunt.”

“I shall hunt and you shall needlepoint, Mr. Ross?”  
“Oh, I guarantee the most lovely Christmas stocking in exchange for no fewer than a dozen quail.” 

Lou laughed lightly. She returned his gaze and asked, “But what of your doom?”

“Let us also both hope for love,” Ravi said quietly as his warm eyes held hers.

“And who will love me? Especially being so ‘remarkably silly,’” she whispered.

His heart raced. He decided that if he didn’t break eye contact now he would surely spontaneously burst into flames. He focused his attention on the back of Mr. McCormick’s jacket. From the corner of his eye, he could see that Lady Lou Hockhauser’s blush had deepened and she was twirling the ribbons of her bonnet with the hand not tucked in his arm.

“Tell me,” he said, “what does it mean to have a heart feel like a chicken raised by geese?”

“Chickens cannot fly as far as geese. One day the chicken will be left alone,” Lou explained.

Ravi’s eyes glistened as he said, “That is terribly sad.”

“Exactly,” Lou said with a smirk. She held tighter to his arm. “Much more so than just saying one’s heart is sad. Do you understand now why I prefer to speak the way I like?”

It was official, he thought to himself. He now had two aspirations in life: college and Lady Lou Hockhauser.

“If Emma does not fall to the ground and plead to my mother to persuade your aunt and uncle to stay, then I will,” he said, unable to hide the adoration in his voice. “A week will not be enough, however…”

“If you are attempting to flatter me, Mr. Ross, then it is working,” Lou said as she tried and failed to look at anything but Ravi. His expression was one of absolute confidence and his gaze did not waver.

“Honestly, even two weeks may not be enough, Lady Lou Hockhauser…”

“You...uh, may call me Lou.”

“Lou,” Ravi said her name like it was his favorite word. “Lou, you must stay at least three weeks.”

Lou snapped open her fan and waved it on the far side of her left so as not to block the view of the young man causing her face to heat up. If there had been any less distance between them as they walked side by side his parents and the viscount’s parents would’ve failed as chaperons.

She asked, “Do you believe you can earn my forgiveness so quickly?” 

“Please understand the extent of my meaning and its sincerity when I say this,” Ravi began. She looked into his eyes and he said, “I hope to.”

She stumbled but was able to keep her balance. She grinned at him and he was certain that she understood his meaning.


	3. Brought a Friend to Our Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lou has a friendship bracelet stuck in her hair while on her date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I do not own Bunk'd. This collection of unrelated oneshots was inspired by OTP prompts found on tumblr.

It was late afternoon when Jorge rushed into the mess hall. He stood out being a frazzled mess while the rest of the campers relaxed, chatting idly in small groups and snacking on graham crackers. His curls tossed left and right as he searched the room for his friend. He spotted her nestled in a corner behind the pool table with a large book in her hands. He ran up to her.

“Tiffany! I need your help!” Jorge exclaimed. He hunched over and rested his hands on his knees.

“I’m busy,” Tiffany said, not looking up from her book on rare butterflies.

“You have to help me find Xander and Emma,” Jorge said. He yanked the book from her hands and clutched it to his chest. “It’s an emergency.”

“If you don’t give me back my book, you’re going to have an emergency,” Tiffany said through her teeth.

Jorge refused to let go of the book and stepped around the pool table. “But it’s about Lou’s date,” he said.

Tiffany raised an eyebrow as she stood up from the bench. “With Will?” she asked. She crossed her arms and leaned back on her heel. “What did you do?”

Jorge dug the toe of his sneaker into the rug on the floor. “I got a little too excited during arts and crafts.” He loosened the book in his grip. “And it’ll kinda be my fault if the date’s ruined cause of something I did.” He handed Tiffany her book back. “Will you please help me find Xander and Emma?”

“Did you check the Spot?” Tiffany asked as she tucked the book beneath her arm. She grimaced and added, “They’re usually there.”

“First place I looked. And I’ve looked everywhere!” He stuck out his bottom lip and pressed his hands together beneath his chin. “Please help me.”

Tiffany sighed and rolled her eyes. She walked towards the entry door and Jorge cheered as he followed behind her.

“I’m only helping because I care about Lou’s date,” Tiffany said over her shoulder. “How exactly did you ruin it anyway?”

“Well...it started when I made Ravi a friendship bracelet…”

“Of course, Ravi was there. Now that he’s a counselor too, they’re always hanging out. They plan more activities to lead together than Emma and Xander do and those two clowns are going out.”

“Exactly! And he’s the one that was standing too close beside her. So, it’s really his fault!”

“What did you do, Jorge?”

On the other side of camp, Emma and Xander had returned from their mountain hike with the campers from Badger cabin. They sat on the edge of the dock and watched the campers splash in the water to cool off from the hike. Emma leaned back on her palms. The sun glinted in her sunglasses before she turned to her boyfriend.

“How do you think Lou’s date’s going?” 

“It doesn’t matter,” Xander said. “She won’t go out with him again.”

“Why would you say that, Xander? Will’s a nice guy.”

“Sure, Will’s awesome. That’s why I agreed to take his campers on the hike and watch ‘em while he’s off-duty.”

“Okay...but you say she won’t go out with him again.”

“She won’t.” Xander wiggled his toes in the water. “Lately Lou’s hated every guy that she’s gone out with. She’s always like, ‘This one’s too manly’ or ‘This one’s not manly enough’ or ‘This one’s too tall’ or ‘This one’s too buff,’ he said in a high-pitched voice.

“Okay, okay, I get your point,” Emma said, rubbing her ears. “But maybe Will’s different?”

“He’ll probably be ‘too chill’ or ‘not chill enough’.”

“So... she’s a little picky. She’s a catch. Besides, she’s just looking for the right guy. She’s always talking about how she hates being single.”

“And it’s a mood killer,” Xander said with a chuckle.

Emma used her feet to splash water in his direction. “Be serious, Xandy.”

“I am,” Xander said. “She’s my best friend, so I can say that. And I can say that she’s not going to go out with Will again. I guarantee it.” He tilted his sunglasses over his eyes. “The only guy she doesn’t complain about is Ravi.”

Emma traced patterns in the lake water with her foot. She tilted her head to the side as she thought over what Xander said. One of the campers tossed a beach ball in Xander’s direction. He caught it with ease and then sent it sailing back toward the giggling kids.

“In fact, when the four of us are hanging out, she never mentions being single,” Xander continued. 

“Like when we had movie night on the lawn...and we all sat together,” Emma said slowly as she removed her sunglasses.

“Yeah, like that! She didn’t say anything about dating, even with that mushy romance movie playing in the background.”

Emma smirked at her boyfriend. “Shut up. You loved that movie,” she teased him.

“So,” Xander said, trying and failing to sound unbothered. “And I didn’t cry half as much as Ravi did. He spent the last twenty minutes of the dumb movie sobbing on Lou’s shoulder.”

Emma hummed to herself. “Which was weird,” she said. “Because he’s already seen that movie like a thousand times and he hardly ever cries over it anymore.”

“Well he cried that night. He was holding her so tight, I thought she’d pass out from lack of oxygen.”

“You’re right.”

“Now that I think about it,” Xander said, “Ravi doesn’t mention it either...dating...when Lou’s around. And he’s always complaining about being single.” He sniffled. “Huh, coincidence.”

Emma stopped swirling her foot in the water and said, “O.M.G.”

“What?” Xander searched the water for anything out of the ordinary. His girlfriend snatched his sunglasses off his nose. 

“Or not!” She exclaimed. She stood up on the dock, quickly. “What if the reason Lou doesn’t want to date those guys...is because they’re not the guy.”

Xander stared up at her blankly. She wiggled her eyebrows and smiled at him, waiting patiently for him to catch up to her thinking. Suddenly, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

“No!” He gasped. His eyes lit up. “Really?”

Emma’s smile was smug as she nodded her head. “For sure.”

“That’s great!” Xander stood up on the dock. “Huh, I guess what Ravi said a while back makes sense now.”

“What’d he say?”

“He said, ‘Wow, I like Lou. I mean, nothing. I said nothing. You heard nothing about me saying I like Lou, Xander. I’ve got to go. Bye.’ I thought it was weird, but hey, he’s a weird dude.”

“And you didn’t bring that up?” Emma said flatly with her hands on her hips.

“Nah, but we should help them get together!”

“But how do we get them to admit that they like each other to each other when they haven’t even admitted it to us? And we’re their best friends?” Emma wondered out loud.

“What if we set them up on like a date or something? Just the two of them.”

“Oh, that’s good!” Emma frowned. “Too bad she’s already on a date right now.”

At that moment, Tiffany and Jorge ran toward the couple on the dock. They looked flustered from searching all over the camp for their counselors. Tiffany had long abandoned her book. Jorge had lost one of his shoes. 

“Guys!” Tiffany said out of breath. “We need your help.”

“What’s wrong?” Emma asked with concern in her voice. She placed her hand on Tiffany’s shoulder and looked her over for any visible damage.

Jorge didn’t stop running, and he jumped straight into the cool lake. His head popped out of the water and he sighed in relief.

“Much better,” he sighed.

Xander leaned over the edge of the dock and asked, “What’s up, Jorge?”

“We need you to save Lou’s date with Will,” Jorge explained as he floated in the water.

“What he said,” Tiffany agreed once she caught her breath. “Jorge made a stupid friendship bracelet…”

“Hey! It’s not stupid! I made that bracelet for Ravi with love,” Jorge argued.

“I doubt Lou’s loving the bracelet now,” Tiffany mumbled. She looked up at Emma and said, “We’re going to need your fancy scissors.”

As Tiffany and Jorge explained at the lake what had happened, Lou was being seated at a nice restaurant fifteen minutes down the road from camp. The walk there with her date had been slow, because she had to take more measured steps than usual. But she didn’t mind. For her, walking through nature was an added bonus for any date. Unfortunately, she did stumble three or four times from the difficult journey.

Will picked out a restaurant with a view of the sunflower fields. Each booth was by a window, so the diners could enjoy the scenery while they ate freshly made foods and locally sourced produce. So far, they had only taken their seats in the booth and received water from the hostess.

“I’m really having a great time, Lou.”

“Thanks, Will.”

Lou smiled at her date across from her. He was tall, even seated in the booth. He had warm eyes and a handsome face. He was the counselor for Badger cabin and they had known each other for years. Lou would’ve never considered a date with him before. Will had dated his ex-girlfriend since they were all fourteen. She had been surprised when they broke up last summer, but she hadn’t had any interest in dating him then. When he had asked her on a date this week, she had been even more surprised, but had agreed because he’s a good person and a good-looking person.

“The walk here was really nice. I’ve never taken that path from camp before,” Will said. His eyes shifted to the right side of her and he frowned a little. He cleared his throat and plastered back on a friendly smile.

“Oh yeah, it’s the best! Those flowers bloom so nicely and it makes everything smell so nice,” Lou said and inhaled deeply. “They’re the smell of summer.”

Will chuckled and said, “You’re so cute.”

“Thanks,” Lou chuckled back. “And I’m having a great time too. You look really nice.”

“Thanks. I like your dress. And your hair looks nice...I mean I imagine it’d look even nicer if, you know, another guy wasn’t attached to it.”

Lou felt her face heat with embarrassment. She shifted in her seat, accidentally nudging Ravi with her shoulder. 

“My bad,” Ravi said. He flashed Will an awkward smile “Friendship bracelets can be tricky.”

“Which we definitely learned today,” Lou said sarcastically.

“I see,” Will mumbled. He took a sip of water from his glass and smacked his lips. “Why, I mean, how did this happen again, exactly?”

Will had resisted asking the question up until this point. When he had first picked Lou up at Woodchuck cabin, he was so confused by Lou and Ravi’s rambling explanations that he just nodded and asked if they were ready to go. 

“It’s a funny story,” Lou said. She tried to look as sweet as possible to lighten the mood.

“And you’ve seen some of the wacky situations that Jorge has gotten us into before,” Ravi laughed but it sounded forced.

“Between Griff, Tiffany, Jorge, and Zuri, we’ve got our hands full,” Lou said. “Remember last week with that tank of chocolate pudding they dunk you in?”

“Those lovable scamps,” Ravi said as he shook his head. “Good thing you were able to get me out of there.”

“Yeah, I had to perform CPR on you for like five minutes!”

“I know!”

She and Ravi both laughed. Will gave her a small smile, but said nothing. 

“How about some water,” Lou said to break the tension.

She reached for her glass of water and took a sip. Unfortunately, Ravi couldn’t reach for his glass. She picked up the reusable straw beside her silverware and plopped it down into her glass. She held it up for Ravi to take a drink. 

“Thanks, I was parched,” Ravi said. “That was quite the walk over here. At least a few miles.”

“You’re such a baby. That walk was nothing,” Lou replied, but smiled fondly at him.

“Maybe for you,” Ravi said. “You love walks.”

Lou looked over at Will. He was staring at her glass as Ravi took another sip. She quickly put the glass down, causing water to dribble down Ravi’s chin. 

“Let’s just pretend like he isn’t here,” Lou said to Will.

“Yes, think of me as an inanimate object,” Ravi said. “Or like a plant.” He pointed toward the bouquet on the table. “Like this odd arrangement of flowers.” He lowered his voice for only Will and Lou to hear. “You’d think a place this nice would pick better flowers for the table.”

Will looked as if Ravi had taken a glove and slapped him across the face.

Lou cleared her throat and nudged Ravi with her elbow. “Those are obviously for me,” she said through her teeth.

Ravi blinked. “Oh! I hadn’t noticed them on our walk.” He smiled apologetically at Will and said, “They really are lovely flowers, Will.”

Will’s frowned remained as he said, “Thanks.”

“Stop talking, Ravi,” Lou said flatly.

“I’ll be quiet now,” Ravi said. He made a show of folding his lips into a thin line, zipping them, and throwing away the key.

The atmosphere remained tense. Lou scanned the restaurant for a waitress, hoping food would make the situation less awkward. Will gulped down his glass of water. Ravi hummed a tune that had been stuck in his head but he couldn’t remember the lyrics to it. There was no sign of a waitress even though only a few customers were in the restaurant.

“So, how’s your Kikiwaka summer so far?” Lou asked, giving up on service and hoping to save the fast deteriorating date. “Still love being a counselor for the badgers?”

Will tried to focus on Lou. He couldn’t. “Ah, yeah,” Will said with distraction in his voice. “It’s been great. I really like...I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” Lou asked with confusion etched across her face.

Will shook his head and sighed. “It’s just really difficult to pretend like he isn’t here with his hand around your shoulder.”

“My wrist?” Ravi asked as he waved his wrist and flung some of Lou’s hair around. He sputtered as some of the strands hit him in the face.

“Ow! Careful,” Lou grumbled.

“Oh, dear me. Are you okay?” Ravi said as he combed his fingers through her hair where his bracelet was attached. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Lou said calmly.

“I’d say it’s more like balancing on her forehead than anything else...You use a really nice shampoo, by the way, Lou. Your hair smells lovely. As lovely as the flowers that Will brought you,” Ravi said and smiled at Will. “See what I did there? Bringing up your lovely gift? Your romance is back on track.”

Lou clicked her tongue and said, “I’m so gonna get Jorge.” She looked at Ravi from the corner of her eye and added, “Please stop talking, inanimate object.”

“I’m just trying to help in your romantic endeavor.”

“I don’t need your help, Ravi. I’ve been on dates before.”

“I’m just saying...your past few attempts haven’t resulted in boyfriends.”

“Your last girlfriend was your calculator. Explain how kissing a low-level computer works again?”

“Don’t get cute with me, missy...”

“Missy?”

“Yep, I hear it now. Not cool. That was condescending.”

Will broke up Lou and Ravi’s banter by saying, “I meant your other hand.” 

Ravi’s arm was wrapped around Lou’s shoulders while his other wrist rested atop of her head, stuck in her hair by his friendship bracelet.

“His hand is on your shoulder,” Will repeated.

“Well, perhaps if I stand and…” Ravi started.

Lou interrupted him and gave Will an apologetic look. “I’m as annoyed as you are, Will, but you can’t expect him to stand the entire time.”

“But I wouldn’t mind,” Ravi said to Lou. “If you wanted me to.”

“That’s sweet, Ravi...but no. You're my friend. You shouldn’t stand the entire time. And, Will, the only way he can sit without yanking out my hair…”

Will interrupted her by saying, “Is by sitting uncomfortably close to you on the same side of the booth?” 

“Oh, I’m not uncomfortable,” Ravi said nonchalantly.

Lou facepalmed. She turned to glare at him and their faces were so close that if given enough time she could count his eyelashes. “What happened to you not talking,” Lou said to Ravi. 

He could feel her minty breath on his face as he apologized, “Sorry.” He gazed into her eyes and said, “You know how chatty I am.”

“I know,” Lou said softly. She cleared her throat and returned her gaze to Will. “I’ve had much weirder dates.”

“Me too,” Ravi added supportively.

“I posted bail for a guy once and he wouldn’t even buy me dinner. He split half a turkey sandwich with me that he had smuggled out and drank the whole can of soda that he was supposed to share,” Lou said. 

“That’s pretty messed up,” Will said. “I don’t know if that beats this, though. At least you two were alone.”

“But that guy was an idiot. Lou deserved the entire soda for such a subpar experience,” Ravi mumbled to no one in particular.

“You hardly ever share your soda, Ravi,” Lou said.

“I would provide you many sodas if you bailed me out of jail.”

“I saved you from Bunny cabin two days ago and you wouldn’t give me a bite of your pizza.”

“It was good pizza, Lou! And Gladys never buys pizza.”

“Excuses. The only crop not worth harvesting.”

“Fine, the next time she needs me to review insurance documents for the camp, I’ll refuse unless she orders pizza. Just for you, Lou Ella.”

“Shush, no one’s supposed to know my name.”

“I’m still here, guys,” Will said annoyed.

“Stop talking, Ravi,” Lou said sternly. “You’re supposed to be a plant.”

Lou reached across the table and patted Will’s hand gently. “Trust me, this is much better.” She smiled at him. “Try this...close your eyes. Go ahead, close ‘em.”

Will smiled and closed his eyes. He turned his hand beneath hers and opened his palm. He locked his fingers with hers.

Lou spoke. “Smell the sugary cake rising somewhere in the kitchen back there. Feel the warm sunshine through the window. Listen to the light tapping of the forks hitting plates of fresh food. Now open your eyes. What do you see?”

Will opened his eyes and they settled on Ravi, who had his head resting against Lou’s as he absently stared up at the ceiling. Will unlocked his fingers with Lou’s and pulled his hand away.

“What do you see?” Lou repeated brightly, not noticing the absence of his hand in hers. “I tell you what I see. A great guy who I hope is enjoying our date.”

“Sure,” Will said as he tipped his glass toward him and checked for more water.

She snuggled closer to Ravi, without realizing she had done it, and said, “This is a really cute restaurant. I’ve only been here a few times. They opened last summer; I think.”

Will clenched his jaw and answered, “Yep. Think so.”

Finally, the waitress appeared. Lou felt relief. She felt that the sooner the food arrived the sooner the weirdness of the date would fade away. Nobody could be mad and full at the same time. The waitress pulled an ordering pad out of her apron and asked what everyone wanted to order.

“A cheeseburger for me, please,” Will said politely.

“I’ll take the pasta salad,” Lou said.

“That looks good,” Ravi said as he reviewed the picture of the pasta salad on the menu opened in front of him on the table. “But the garden salad with freshly-baked bread looks yummy as well.”

“I thought the same thing! But the pasta salad looks so tasty,” Lou said.

“I know, right. Oh, I’ve got it! I’ll just get the garden salad with bread and we can share,” Ravi said.

“Perfect!” Lou agreed. 

The waitress jotted down the order and then refilled their water glasses. She asked if they needed anything else before she went to check on the other customers.

“This doesn’t make up for the pizza, either,” Lou said to Ravi.

“Are you kidding me? I’ve known you long enough to know you’d never let me off the hook that easily,” Ravi replied.

“I also want to share your radishes from the garden salad.”

“You mean you’re going to steal my half of the radishes.”

“True...Do you want more water?”

“Yes, please. Thank you, Lou.”

“Seriously,” Will grumbled.

Lou took a sip of her water after she took the straw from Ravi. She smacked her lips and then smiled brightly at Will. “So, are you ready for your freshman year? Which college are you going to again?” She asked.

“...I’m pretty excited. University of Northern Maine.”

“That’s great, Ravi!” Lou said with her gaze on Will. Her eyes widened and her face heated as she realized her blunder. “I meant Will! That’s great, Will.”

Ravi felt Lou’s shoulders tense at her mistake. He opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t think of anything helpful to save them from disaster.

“Nah, I’m out,” Will said determinedly. He snatched his bouquet of flowers off the table and scooted out of the booth. “Goodnight.” 

“Will,” Lou said, standing up too quickly. She yelped as the bracelet tugged at her hair and she plopped back down beside Ravi.

Will took his plate off the tray as the waitress approached. He told her, “Those two will be paying for my meal,” before he flounced out of the restaurant.

The waitress placed the pasta salad and garden salad with freshly-baked bread at their table. She asked if they needed anything else, and Lou wondered if the woman was purposely ignoring the fact that she had a guy attached to her head or was she used to seeing weird things from waiting tables. Lou and Ravi thanked her and said they were fine.

“So much for that,” Lou sighed.

“I am so sorry, Lou,” Ravi said. “Maybe when we’ve had time to detach, I can talk to him and ask him to give you another chance.”

“Don’t worry about it, Ravi.” She picked up her fork and frowned. “We didn’t think dinner through.” She glanced at his arm above her head and the one around her shoulder. “In more ways than one.”  
“Maybe they could blend up my food and I can drink it through the straw?”

Lou laughed. “Don’t be silly. I’ll feed you.” She stabbed some noodles and vegetables with the fork and fed them to Ravi. She scrunched her nose. “Good thing he left when he did.”

“Definitely,” Ravi said with his mouth full of vegetables. He chewed. “I don’t know how we’d explain this.”

“I’m sure friends feed each other all the time when they’re on dates with other people,” Lou joked.

“I really am sorry, Lou,” Ravi said sincerely.

“It’s okay. Will is a really great guy. But I only said yes to be nice.” She stabbed some more noodles and vegetables. “I guess I ended up not being so nice.”

Ravi chewed in thought. “Do you do that a lot?”

“What?”

“Accept dates with guys to be nice?”

Lou bit into a piece of bread. “No. I’m willing to give people a chance,” she said between chews. “Everyone deserves a chance. You never know what could be out there. It just hasn’t worked out for me yet.”

“It will one day,” Ravi said.

“I know you know almost everything, but there’s no way you can know that.”

“Of course I can. It’s a law of nature.”

“What’s the law?”

“It is impossible for someone as wonderful as you not to find someone equally as wonderful.”

Lou beamed and she couldn’t help but close the gap and kiss his nose. “You’re being too sweet. I couldn’t help it,” she said.

Ravi’s face heated and he stammered out, “It’s cool.”

They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Lou would alternate between feeding him and feeding herself. They smiled at each other the entire time.

“I wish dating wasn’t so much...work,” Lou said finally. “I want to spend time with a person without worrying about what I’m wearing or if I’m saying the right thing.”

“Believe me, I understand,” said Ravi. “I want to feel free to be myself without worrying if my date’s going to get bored and leave in the middle of my sentence.”

“Easy fix. Just have Jorge make you another friendship bracelet,” Lou said with a smile.

He shook her shoulder and said, “Very funny.”

She turned to look at him and once again noticed how close they were. She was more comfortable now that her date had left. She thought about kissing his nose again to see if he’d stammer some more.

“How come you’re not dating anyone, Ravi?” she asked.

Before he could answer, Emma and Xander ran up to their table. They were still in their hiking outfits and sunglasses, but Emma had a clutch in her hand.

“Emma? Xander?”

“We got here as fast as we could,” Emma said. She opened her clutch of hair-styling materials and picked out a pair of jeweled scissors. “Hair emergency.”

“No need now. My date just left,” Lou said with a shrug.

“You missed him by only a few minutes,” Ravi said.

“Too bad,” Xander said in an exaggerated tone. He winked at Emma, who ignored him.

“I better cut you free, Ravi,” Emma said as she hovered the scissors over Lou’s head. “Unless you plan on being attached to her forever.” She studied Ravi’s face for any hint of embarrassment. He showed none.

“Yeah, you two looked pretty cozy,” Xander said as he winked at Lou. She stared blankly at him.

“I’ve annoyed her enough for one day. Please perform the hair surgery,” Ravi replied.

“Amen to that,” Lou agreed.

Emma snapped the strands of hair free of the bracelet with expert precision. “Voila!” She exclaimed. She slipped into the seat opposite of Lou and Ravi. “I’m sorry I was late, Lou. Tiffany and Jorge found us and told us what happened.” 

Lou massaged her scalp and said, “It’s okay, bestie. You tried to save my date. It’s the thought that counts.”

“I personally don’t think it was that bad of date,” Ravi said as he stretched his newly detached wrist. He unwrapped his arm from around Lou’s shoulders. “Lou was very polite and courteous and sweet. I had a wonderful time.”

Xander scootched into the booth with Emma. He said to Ravi, “I bet you did,” and winked.

“Xander, why do you keep winking?” Ravi asked. “Is it the pollen from the sunflower field?”

Emma nudged Xander with her elbow and gave him an annoyed look.

“Aww, thanks, Ravi,” Lou said, not paying attention to her best friends. “I know I was kind of annoyed with you, but thanks for trying to salvage this date with me.”

“Anytime,” he said.

Emma watched them smile fondly at each other. She gave Xander a knowing look but he was watching the door over his shoulder.

“Do you want me to try and catch up with Will?” Xander asked. “Let him know you’re free?”

“No, I’m good,” Lou said as she tucked some strands of hair behind her ear.

Xander made a show of nodding his head as he grabbed some bread. He broke off a piece and said, “I get it...why sing a cover...when you can write a new song.”

Emma rolled her eyes. Lou bunched her eyebrows together. Ravi looked confused.

“What in tarnation are you talking about?” Lou asked.

“Nothing,” Emma said. “You know what, Will’s probably already gone.” She tugged on Xander’s hand and added, “We should go too. Technically, it’s not our night off.”

“But I want breadsticks,” Xander pouted. “And dessert. Any good desserts here?”

“I don’t know but I’ve had a hankering for chocolate pudding,” Lou replied. “I can’t explain it.”

“I was thinking more like ice cream,” Xander said as he reached for a menu.

Emma ignored him and said, “No, we should go. You two should stay, though.” Before either could protest, she said, “You wouldn’t want your orders to go to waste. Okay bye.”

“Uh, very well. Bye.”

“See ya later.”

Emma pushed Xander forward, but he waved at his friends on his way out the door, and called out, “You got this!” 

Emma giggled as the restaurant door closed behind them.

The casual comfort that they were in while they dined previously returned. They were no longer seated as close together, but they’re hands still brushed when they both reached for a glass of water.

“I suppose I should go sit on the other side of the booth now,” Ravi said. He waved his wrist. “Being as I am no longer a human hair accessory.”

“It’s kind of chilly in here, though,” Lou said. She shivered to prove her point. “Would you mind staying on this side? It’s warmer that way.”

“No problem,” Ravi said. He scooted closer to her, so that their shoulders were together. “It’s probably better if I’m closer too.”

She smiled and split the pasta salad on an appetizer plate. He did the same with the garden salad.

“Um...as for your question earlier,” Ravi started. “I don’t see much point in dating...I uh...much rather spend my time with my friends and... you.”

“Am I not your friend?” Lou asked with a smirk.

“I’d rather spend additional time with you...without our other friends.” He tapped his fork against a piece of lettuce. “If that’s not too weird.”

“Let me think...continue dating other guys...or spend more time with you?” Lou pretended to think before she used her fork to steal a radish from his plate. “I pick you.” She munched on the radish and then added, “But if I catch you with that calculator, we’re over.”

Ravi laughed and it made Lou’s heart skip a beat.


	4. It's Raining Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A cutie spell brings two guys to the Kikiwaka School for Witches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I do not own Bunk'd. This collection of unrelated oneshots was inspired by OTP prompts found on tumblr.

Emma panicked when she saw her little sister at the far end of the dormitory hallway. She looked to her left and right, but was trapped by mahogany doors shut tight and covered with dry-erase boards that erased themselves and photos where the photographed students eternally danced. With nowhere to run, Emma tucked the forbidden object she had been carrying behind her back and strolled toward her sister, plastering on a grin she hoped Zuri wouldn’t see through.

“You’re hiding something.”

Zuri had stopped in front of her sister and crossed her arms. Her cellphone rested in the bend of her elbow. She raised one eyebrow and smirked.

“Hmm...no.”

“It’s a bowl, isn’t it.”

“Uh...nope.”

“It’s a solid gold bowl. You’re hiding it behind your back.”

“...What?”

Emma’s doe-eyed expression was met with Zuri’s skeptical stare. A trio of girls walked past the sisters. They wore forest-green sweats and cream-colored tees, which was the only outfit permissible other than the school uniform during weekdays. Emma spun around and scampered backward into her sister to hide the bowl from the trio.

Once the girls were gone, Emma huffed, “Fine. You caught me.”

Zuri grinned in triumph. “Now why would you have a bowl made of solid gold, hmm?” She tapped her chin. “It couldn’t have anything to do with prohibited spells, now could it?”

“It could…” Emma said. She pouted and tilted her head slightly. “You’re not going to tell, right? Help out your dearest only sibling.”

Zuri smirked and said, “If the headmistress finds out you’re doing prohibited spells then I’ll be an only child.” 

“Come on, Zuri. I’m your sister. And your friend,” Emma said, no longer pouting.

Zuri shrugged beneath her fashionably oversized school blazer. “You know what they say: Sisters by adoption. Friends no choice.”

“You know that’s not the saying,” Emma said as she rolled her eyes. “It’s ‘sisters by chance and friends by choice.’ Now, no telling on me...Ross sisters forever?” She held out her hand.

Zuri took her sister’s hand and they did the handshake they’d perfected over the years.  
“Ross sisters forever,” Zuri replied. “Just be careful, Emma. And don’t turn anyone into a plant again.”

“I turned her into a fish. She deserved it. And it wore off.”

Zuri chuckled at her sister and started walking in the opposite direction when Emma called after her.

“Hey, are you doing anything? Do you want to see if my spell works?”

“No thanks,” Zuri replied. She waved her phone in her hand. “I’ve got enough magic on the Internet and new followers every day.”

Emma nodded and then hurried off to her suite before anyone else caught her with the bowl. She sat with her legs folded beneath her skirt on the large rug of the common room’s floor. Heavy drapes blocked out the light of the two large, arched windows that overlooked the secluded and sprawling forest in Maine. Darkness enveloped the room. Candles were lit on the tables, bookshelves, and the portmanteau tucked in the corner of the suite’s common room. The fiery light casted shadows on the closed doors. One door led to the room Emma shared with her best friend, Lou. The other door was to her suitemate’s room, Hazel. On the rug in front of her was the bowl made of gold. She also had a feather from a very unhappy peacock that liked to roam the cobblestone path in front of the library; a Ziplock bag of dirt that filled the common room with an earthy aroma; and a pair of hair stylist scissors. Without looking backward, Emma waved her hand behind her, and summoned her spell book from her designer backpack flung on the couch. The large text dropped to her lap with a thud.

“This is going to be so fun!” she exclaimed cheerily to the mural of flowers and fairies painted on the high ceiling. The painted fairies winked at her. She looked back down to her spell book and flipped to the page she had bookmarked. “Perfect.”

She levitated the feather and said, “One feather.” She plopped a handful of dirt into the gold bowl. “Dirt. Ew.” The feather landed delicately atop of the dirt. “And now...” she said as she reached for the scissors with one hand and twirled her hair with the other, “...It’s time for my love life to get a lot more interesting.”

At that moment the door to her right flung open. A gust of wind blasted the drapes open and blew out all of the candles in the common room. Emma winced as autumn sunlight flooded the room.

“My candles,” Emma muttered. “And my hair.” She straightened her locks with her fingers.

Lou ignored Emma’s comments as she stomped into the common room. With another blast, she flung the door opposite her room’s door open and shouted, “Hazel! I ought to fill your room with horse manure!”

Emma and Lou watched as Hazel slunk into her doorway. All three girls wore the same forest-green skirt and black blazer. Hazel’s platinum blond pigtails had grown ridiculously long over the summer. They reached the waist of her school uniform. She crossed her arms and said in an annoyed tone, “You’re interrupting my plotting, Lou-ser.”

Lou narrowed her eyes. “You witch,” she said. An orange spark formed in her palm. It crackled with magic. She drew her arm back like a major league pitcher and hurled it at Hazel.

Hazel ducked in time and then popped back up. “Hey! Watch the pigtails!” She shouted as she combed her fingers through her hair.

“I won’t miss next time, Crazel!”

“Bring it, Lou-ser!”

Emma finally stood and shouted, “Girls!” She outstretched both arms with a shimmering palm opened toward each of her roommates. “I’m kind of busy casting a cutie spell here.” She lowered her arms and tapped a finger to her chin. “Well, I hope he’s cute. Ooo, with abs. Oh! And a great smile.”

“But Emma,” Lou whined. She made her eyes wide. “The mistress of darkness took Mr. Woodchuck.” 

Emma gasped. “Not your woodchuck!” She gave Hazel a disapproving look. “How could you?”

“I didn’t take the stupid thing,” Hazel said, scrunching her nose in offense as she moved away from the doorframe and into the common room. She summoned a pillow from the nook in the far side of the room that they used for reading. She hopped onto the pillow and comfortably levitated above the floor.

Emma rolled her eyes, put one hand on her hip, and waved her other hand. Mr. Woodchuck hovered out of Hazel’s room. The stuffed woodchuck dropped into Lou’s open arms.

“Mr. Woodchuck!” Lou hugged him tight. “Oh, the things you must’ve suffered.”

“Alright,” Hazel smirked, “maybe I took it.”

“See, like a said, total witch,” Lou said as she glared at Hazel and clutched her beloved woodchuck.

“Better one than you,” Hazel snapped. Her eyes flickered and one of the candles on the table lit itself again. She lazily opened her palm and dark smoke curled around her fingers.

“Enough!” Emma demanded. She shut her eyes and blew out a slow breath through her nostrils. “I don’t want a stress pimple before my date.” She opened her eyes and ran a hand over her face to check for raised blemishes. “Phew! All good.”

“Date?” her roommates asked simultaneously. They both looked at each other, wordlessly calling a truce.

“What’d you mean, bestie?” Lou asked as she leaned against the back of the couch.

“I am so done with being single,” Emma explained.

“Then stop being so hideous,” Hazel replied.

“Says the girl wearing Crocs,” Emma said as she eyed Hazel’s footwear dangling from the levitating pillow.

“They are comfortable!” Hazel shouted angrily.

“I like being single,” Lou said, ignoring her suitemate’s outburst.

Emma raised her eyebrow at Lou. Hazel gave Lou a disbelieving look.  
“What?” Lou asked as she shrugged her shoulders.

“You makeout with that woodchuck, don’t you?” Hazel said flatly.

Emma covered her mouth to hide her laughter but failed. She apologized through chuckles, “Sorry, Lou. That’s not funny, Hazel! And it’s not true.”

“Gee, thanks, bestie,” Lou said sarcastically.

“Sorry, bestie. She caught me off guard.”

“I’m just saying,” Lou explained, “that I don’t need someone to spend time with, or snuggle, or be all cute with. I’m fine with the way things are. And you won’t catch me checking out anyone anytime soon. Especially after my last boyfriend.”

“Oh yeah, I remember him. The super evil guy, right? Do you still have his number?” Hazel asked.

“Nope, he wasn’t really into cell phones. Or regular phones. It’s kinda hard to get reception where he’s from.”

“So, you’re telling me that if some cutie showed up here, you wouldn’t be at all interested?” Emma asked with a teasing smile.

“Well…” Lou murmured as she focused on the laces of her shoes. “I wouldn’t be opposed.”

“Ugh! We both know Lou’s as desperate as you,” Hazel said to Emma. “She’d date that wall clock if it’d give her the time of day.”

“It’s a clock, genius. It does give me the time of day,” Lou said as she glared at Hazel.

“Oh, shut up, Hazel. You’re just jealous because Lou’s a romantic at heart,” Emma said. “Just like me.”

Emma turned away from her roommates and daintily sat back down in front of her spell book. She snipped away some strands from the ends of her hair and let them fall into the gold bowl. “Now I just have to…” her eyes scanned the page. “Huh? Really?” She reread the instructions then shrugged. “Whateves.”

“What’s…” Lou started but was startled silent by Emma’s sudden movements.

Emma jumped to her feet. She flung out her arms. Her hands shimmered in the autumn sunlight. “It’s raining men! Hallelujah! It’s running men, Amen!” She sang with enthusiasm. 

“Gosh, she’s stupid,” Hazel grumbled.

Lou shot a spark from her finger that caused Hazel’s floating pillow-seat to plummet to the floor.

“Ouch!”

All three witches waited for something to happen. Footsteps in the hallway could be heard on the other side of the suite’s door. The leaves outside continued to dance on the breeze, flashing their brilliant colors outside the room’s large windows.

“What a bust,” Hazel snorted as she stood up from the floor.

“Maybe it’s like an oven and it has to like pre-heat before it…” Emma started but was interrupted by a rumble of thunder.

The gold bowl began to wobble in its place on the rug. A flash of golden light crackled like lightning as the thunder grew louder.

“Oh…”

“...My…”

“Godric!”

A mist appeared and a person dropped to the floor. He just missed the bowl of dirt and peacock feather. He wore a sapphire blue football uniform. The words “McCormick” were written across the back. The colors of his helmet matched the jersey. His arms were muscular and even with all the game padding he looked fit.

“No…” Lou started.

“...way,” Hazel finished.

“Oh! Yay!” Emma cheered. She helped the football player to his feet. His legs wobbled like those of a newborn deer. She glanced at his biceps and abdomen. “He’s got abs for sure,” she said as she let go of his hands.

“What’s going on?” the football player asked. His voice was muffled by his helmet. He lifted his hands to his helmet, but struggled to take it off. 

“Here, allow me,” Emma said sweetly. She gently removed his helmet and giggled. “Forget the cutie spell,” she said over her shoulder to Lou. “More like the hottie spell.”

Stunned, Lou nodded wordlessly in agreement. Hazel’s expression was one of pure awe. She gripped onto the back of the couch to steady herself. His hair was a warm brown that looked perfect even after being under a sweaty football helmet. His hazel eyes were clouded with confusion, but he gave them a bright lop-sided smile. All three girls felt their heartbeats quicken.

“Hey,” the football player greeted them.

“Hi!”

“Howdy!”

“Marry me!”

“I think I need a better practice helmet,” he said in a dazed tone. He shook his head and wobbled slightly forward.

Emma caught him by the elbows and steadied him as she said, “Don’t worry. I gotcha.”

“Thanks,” he said, a little breathy.

“You’re welcome,” she said softly.

Emma and the football player’s gazes softened as they unconsciously leaned into each other. The glow of the sun’s shine through the arched windows formed a halo around them.

“Wow,” Lou sighed dreamily. She hugged Mr. Woodchuck to her heart. “She’s right. I am a romantic. And just look at them! Isn’t it romantic, Hazel?”

“No!” Hazel whined. She sent a gust of wind from her palm to knock Emma out of the way.

Emma tumbled to the floor and rolled into a bookshelf. It shook slightly but nothing fell off the shelves. The football player lost his balance, but Hazel swooped in, Olympic hurdling over the couch, to support him. She held him tight at his waist as he leaned against her for support.

“I’m Hazel,” she beamed up at the guy. He was much taller than her. She glanced at the words on the front of his jersey. “Mr. East Pine High School. How do you feel about Fall weddings?”

His eyebrows shot up. “Uhm, what?” He stuttered.

Emma pressed herself off the floor and dusted off her blazer.

“East Pine,” Lou repeated. “Hey, that’s that public school in town, yeah, on the other side of the forest. Last time Headmistress Gladys sent me to town on an errand I passed by it. I saw your football team.”

“I bet you’re awesome at sports,” Emma said from her place in front of the bookshelf. She smiled at him.

The football player puffed up his chest proudly. “I’m the quarterback.”

“You guys aren’t very good,” Lou said. “Your plays are sloppy.”

“Thanks,” he responded flatly.

Hazel pressed her hand against his abdomen and said, “Yep, abs confirmed.” Her eyes twinkled up at him.

“Hazel!” Lou reprimanded her roommate. “Hands to yourself!”

The football player freed himself of Hazel’s arms and said sternly, “I’m not that kind of boy, Hayley.”

Before Hazel could correct him, Emma muttered under her breath and wiggled her fingers in Hazel’s direction.

“What’s going on! What’d you do!” Hazel shouted as she began to levitate toward the ceiling. She tried to grip onto the cute guy, but failed and floated like a balloon up to the ceiling. The vines of the painted flowers in the mural began to twine around her legs, arms, and pigtails. She kicked and swiped at them to back off. 

The football player looked both relieved and horrified. “Oh my gosh! What...how?” He stammered.

“I’m Emma,” she introduced herself, ignoring Hazel’s fussing from above. She stood in front of him and nearly matched him in height. “Do you like picnics?”

“This must be some weird dream. Man, I must’ve really taken a hit on the field,” he said, running his fingers through his still-somehow-perfect hair.

Emma frowned. “Is it a bad dream?”

“Not at all.” Some of her hair was messy from the gust of wind earlier, so he tucked it behind her ear. “And I’d love a dream picnic with you...Emma.”

She bounced on her toes in unabashed joy at the sound of her name from his lips.

He bunched his eyebrows in confusion and asked, “Do I have to introduce myself in my own dream?”

Emma giggled and slipped her arm through his. She walked him toward the door leading to the hallway, still ignoring Hazel’s objections. 

“Way to go, Emma!” Lou cheered.

“Told ya you were a romantic!” Emma called out as she and the football player exited into the hallway. “Thanks, bestie!”

“I can’t believe it,” Lou said, looking up at Hazel once the couple left. “Romance is in the air at the Kikiwaka School for Witches.”

“And so am I!” Hazel fussed. “Now get me down, you loser!”

Lou rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers, sending Hazel dropping to the couch. 

“I want one of those!” Hazel threw a tantrum on the couch. 

“It would be nice to have a relationship outside of Mr. Woodchuck,” Lou muttered.

Hazel dramatically rolled from the couch to the floor and picked up the stylist scissors. She held them to the sky. “And I’m going to get me one.”

“This we got to see,” Lou said to Mr. Woodchuck. She stepped around and sat on the couch.

The gold bowl on the rug still held the dirt and feather, but Emma’s hair was no longer in the mixture. Hazel lifted one of her pigtails. “But why cut my hair,” she said to herself. Quickly, she sprang up and snipped some of Lou’s hair and dumped it into the bowl.

“Hey!”

“Shut it, Lou! This is for love.”

Hazel shot her arms up in the air and threw her head back, belting out, “It’s raining men! Hallelujah! It’s raining men, Amen!”

Much quicker this time, there was thunder and lightning and a body dropped to the common room floor. Along with a huge pile of sweaty towels with the East Pine High School logo on them.

“Huh, guess it was like an oven,” Lou commented. “And Emma pre-heated it.”

“And I’m going to get something hot!” Hazel said as she wiggled her eyebrows at Lou.

“Poor soul,” Lou said toward the pile of towels. “I should’ve stopped her.”

“Out of my way!”

Hazel flung towels left and right until all that was left was a guy in the fetal position wearing sweatshirt and sweatpants in the same sapphire blue as the football player’s jersey. He had dark hair and his form was not athletic or muscular like that of the football player’s.

“So, I’m guessing these aren’t clones and they’re just random cute guys from that high school,” Lou said with a shrug. “Magics funny that way.”

“No!” Hazel fussed. “That’s so unfair!” She shoved the guy, who had sat up and was looking around in confusion, back to the ground. “Back to the bowl!”

“Ow,” he muttered.

“Careful,” Lou said, scooting closer to the edge of her seat. “He looks fragile.” She gave him a small wave.

“I don’t want the towel boy,” Hazel said as she stood to her feet. “I’m taking Emma’s.” She yanked the stuffed woodchuck out of Lou’s arms. “You get this one.”

Lou glanced at the confused guy, who had broken out into a minor nervous sweat. “Me?” She pointed at herself. “I don’t know if…”

Hazel interrupted her by clutching the stuffed woodchuck and saying, “Let’s see how Little Witch Perfect’s date goes when I turn this thing into a ravaging beast.”

“No, don’t!” But before Lou could grab her, Hazel snapped her fingers and was gone.

“Shoot,” Lou said, mostly to herself. “She’s gone.” 

The new guy screamed in terror.

“Did-did she just disappear!” He smacked his face with both hands. “Did I just appear! What’s going on!” He kicked away the towels and crab-walked away from the gold bowl and couch in front of him. “This is not the boy’s locker room!”

“No, it’s my living room...sort of.” She offered her hand to help him to his feet. “This is a boarding school. The Kikiwaka School for Witches.”

He refused her hand and got to his feet on his own, cautiously stepping back from her. “Excuse me? You did not say witches.”

Lou muttered a spell and then flicked her wrist. All the sweaty towels that were strewn about the rug were now folding themselves neatly on the couch. 

“You said witches,” he said with his eyes wide in the direction of the folding towels.

“Much better,” Lou said. “Hazel’s always making a mess. I learned that spell a week after we became roommates. I also hid her invisibility cloak and that creepy dagger she used to carry around.”

“You’re a witch,” the guy stammered. He stepped too far back and bumped into the bookshelf. A candle that had been dangling near the edge of the shelf fell to the floor, making a light thump. He yelped and jumped.

Lou scrunched her nose. “Though I might have to light some of these candles to get the funky smell of those towels out of the room. What? Does everyone eat onions before football practice?” 

“And that other girl! She’s a witch, too? She’s a witch too!”

“I just told you this was a school for witches.”

“I can’t...This can’t...Convincing the student council to make Friday’s tater tot day is literally the craziest thing to happen to me. How do I process this?”

“You don’t have to,” Lou said cheerfully. She wiggled her fingers in the air. “I’ll just jumble up your memory and it’ll be like this never happened. Yep, I’ll send you right on your way. Because I don’t need a…” She paused. “...Cause I like being… I’m just gonna jumble up your memory.”

“Jumble up my memory!” He wrapped his arms around his head.

“You got it, cutie! Hold still,” she said as she took a step toward him.

“Wait!” He flinched.

Lou raised her eyebrows and asked in a kind voice, “What is it, cute towel boy?”

The guy side-stepped from between the bookshelf and Lou. His steps were a little wobbly as he made his way to stand in front of the window.

“It’s Ravi,” he said. “And, uh, not to be rude, but you and your mean friend brought me here, and not of my own free will might I add. How can I be sure that you will ‘send me right on my way’ safely?”

Lou thought for a moment. “Hmm. I guess after I jumble your memories you can’t just walk back to town.” She sucked her teeth. “It’s not exactly close...and the werewolves.”

“Werewolves?”  
Ravi followed Lou’s line of sight. He turned to face the window. His brown eyes widened at the expanse of wilderness below the fourth-floor window. It was dressed in autumn colors. He was visibly panicked again. His breaths were short and sharp.

“Where exactly are we!”

“I already told you, silly. The Kikiwaka…”

“Oh, never mind,” he said in an annoyed tone. He patted the pockets of his sweatpants. “Where’s my phone. Oh, forget it! Deep breaths in. Deep breaths out. Deep breaths in…”

“Deep breaths out,” Lou said good-naturedly. She went to stand beside him. “I don’t have to jumble up your memories. If you tell anybody about us, they’ll just assume you’re loopy.”

Ravi’s eyes scanned the forest. He had never ventured this far out into its depths before. His parents had even warned him about going outside of town. He had always figured it was because they were just being overprotective and he was an only child. He turned back to the common room, making a mental note of all the books, candles, and embellished furniture. His breathing had settled and he was no longer shaking. He tuned out Lou’s rambling.

“And the wolves aren’t usually out and about during this time of day. At least not for hunting…” 

Ravi didn’t reply. He took small steps around the room. His eyes scanned the shelves. The toe of his shoe knocked against the gold bowl. He picked it up and inspected it before placing it back down gently.

“This is all very confusing,” he finally spoke. “I’m not used to being confused.”

“I’m sorry,” Lou said in sincerity. She fidgeted with a loose thread at the bottom of her blazer. “The spell we did, the cutie spell, is technically not allowed. Really, any golden bowl spell is off limits. Prohibited. I guess I see why now.”

“Right...golden bowl,” he said as he glanced at the bowl on the rug. He shook his head and muttered, “What am I saying? This is crazy.”

“Me personally, I’ve never done a prohibited spell before. I have, however, had tater tots,” Lou said with a smile. “Remember; when you mentioned tater tots? I like curly fries, too. Any form of potato, really.”

“So very confusing,” Ravi said as he plopped down on the couch. “Starting with the fact that I was at football practice picking up dirty towels and now I’m in the middle of the forest where there are apparently witches and werewolves. And if I’m being honest, I’d like to circle back to you calling me a ‘cute towel boy,’ even though that shouldn’t be a concern at a time like this.”

“I didn’t call you cute,” Lou scoffed.

“Yes, you did. Several times, actually. And again, that’s not my primary concern as we’ve established that I’m lost in a forest in the company of a witch.”

“I didn’t know your name,” Lou shrugged. She sat on the opposite end of the couch.

“Fine. Whateves. You don’t think I’m cute,” he said as he rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t say that,” Lou murmured.

She hadn’t meant for him to hear her, but he did. His face heated up and he looked up at the ceiling. One of the fairies winked at him. He screamed in terror and scooted closer to Lou.

“What is that!” He shouted as he pointed up at the ceiling.

“It’s a painting,” Lou said nonchalantly. She wiggled her arm. “For such a tiny guy, you’re sure gripping my arm pretty tight.”

“Sorry,” he said, letting go of her. “I scare easily.”

“I’ve noticed. And don’t worry, cute...I mean, Ravi. That’s your name, right? I’ll make sure you get back to school safely. Let me just get my broom.”

She rose slightly but he tugged her back down by the sleeve of her blazer. He put his hand on her shoulder.

He gave her a skeptical look. “Broom?”

“Hazel’s a bad person, but a good witch. You saw her whole poof disappear thing.” Lou snapped her fingers for emphasis. “Yeah, I can’t do that. So, broom…” Her eyes lingered on his hand that was still on her shoulder.

“Let me get this straight. You...are going to fly me back to my high school...on your broom.”

Lou shrugged his hand off her arm and narrowed her eyes at him. “Not everyone can be great at teleportation spells, Ravi.”

Ravi blinked rapidly and said quickly, “Yes, of course! I mean, no, I get it. Teleportation…” He sighed and muttered into his hands. 

Lou crossed her arms. “And it’s hard to study with Hazel playing pranks on me non-stop. And Emma’s always going on and on about how there are no guys at this school. Again, it’s a school for witches. The wizarding school won’t host dances with us anymore because the headmistress gets all weird when their professors chaperon. And don’t get me started on the headmistress.”

Lou saw the trees shaking outside of the windows. Rumbles and footsteps echoed against the panes. Fury woodchuck hair was visible above the treetops. Even with the distance, she could sense a possession aura.

“Yep, I definitely get distracted from time to time,” Lou said. “So, no teleportation spell.”

When Ravi didn’t reply, Lou turned to face him, expecting to see his shocked expression at the giant woodchuck stomping through the forest outside her window. But he was staring at her. She uncrossed her arms.

“You okay?” she asked.

He didn’t reply. Seconds ticked by and he sat there staring at her. She stared back and studied him like one of those spell books she’d found in the library during her first semester. Like he was confusing and exciting and something complicated to be figured out. It made her face hot and her stomach feel like it was in knots.

“I should get my broom,” she said.

He didn’t speak. Or give any indication that he’d heard her. She didn’t leave. Or break eye-contact.

“We should stop staring at each other,” she whispered.

He didn’t speak. He didn’t move. She couldn’t breathe.

“Stop staring or I will curse you!” Lou snapped.

“Sorry!” Ravi blinked and apologized again. “I just thought I’d wake up by now. This is all obviously a dream.”

Lou only felt slightly embarrassed. He’d obviously been staring at her for reasons completely different than hers. But she admitted to herself that Emma was right and she was a total romantic. Even though she didn’t mind being single, casting a cutie spell and ending up with a cutie presented an opportunity she didn’t mind either.

“It’s not a dream, Ravi.”

“I mean, I know it’s a dream. For one, there’s a pretty girl talking to me...”

Lou grinned and replied, “Thanks.”

“And she’s clearly checking me out…”

“Well, I wouldn’t say...I mean, pshh…”

“You said I was cute,” Ravi said.

“So! You called me pretty a second ago.”

“It’s my dream!”

“It’s not a dream!”

Lou sighed and asked, “What about the appearing and disappearing and school for witches? Why would you dream that up?” 

“I watch a lot of movies,” Ravi replied.

Lou’s eyes lit up. “Do you ever go to that little cinema by the post office? Where they only play like two movies at a time?”

“I go there all the time,” Ravi said with as much enthusiasm as Lou had. “It’s the best.”

“And they always have those vintage movie posters outside?” Lou asked.

“Yes! That’s the one!” Ravi put on a smug expression. “Ha! See, this is a dream. If you were real, then I would’ve seen you at the theater. I go there all the time and I’ve never seen you.”

Lou frowned. “We hardly ever get permission to go into town. I’m never there long enough to see a two-hour movie.” She sunk into the couch. “And I haven’t seen a movie here in over a month. Gladys banned movie nights on campus after that popcorn and pendant incident.”

“Oh, um, I’m sorry,” Ravi replied. “If you were real and this weren’t a dream, I’d offer you my projector. It works really well. I got it for my birthday last year to screen old horror films in my backyard. I always get scared afterward and have to sleep with the lights on, but it’s worth it.”

Lou laughed and it made Ravi smile.

“So, if this is a dream,” Ravi began, “do I name you? Or…”

“My name’s Lou.”

“Lovely. I can’t think of a better name than that.”

Lou’s ears perked up when she heard her possessed woodchuck roar in the distance. She glanced out the window and saw the back of the woodchuck’s fury head and several fallen trees.

“What was that?” Ravi asked. Panic crept into his voice as he turned to look out the window.

“Nothing,” Lou said quickly. She grabbed his chin and turned him back to face her. She gave him a bright smile and scooted closer to him. 

“Uh, hi,” he said, uncertainty in his voice.

“Hi,” she replied as she let go of his face.

The possessed animal let out another fierce roar that made some of the candles inside the room shake.

“Should I be worried?”

“I wouldn’t go outside anytime soon.”

She and Ravi both glanced outside the window. Mr. Woodchuck was no longer in view, but there were plenty of slanted trees. Ravi scooted closer to Lou.

“Wow, I’ve got an intense imagination. That roar seemed so real,” Ravi said. His eyes were wide and fixed on the window.

Lou’s eyes were fixed on his shoulder pressed against hers. She said, “Wow, the last guy I dated was a Lich. He kinda always smelled like sulfur and he absolutely hated snuggling.” Her eyes widened. “I said that out loud.”

Ravi blinked. “I’m not sure what that means, but my last girlfriend was more into wielding her power on the student council to make kids cry than snuggling.”

“So evil, too?”

“Oh, certainly. She was the definition of evil.”

They both laughed until it settled into a comfortable silence. 

“I love animals,” Lou said. “How do you feel about animals?”

“Odd question. But I love animals,” Ravi replied. “I spent a summer visiting my cousin in New York City once and volunteered at the zoo there. Why?”

“Fine. If this is a dream, then make my favorite animal appear.”

Ravi chuckled and shook his head. “If I could make whatever I wanted to happen actually happen in my dreams, I’d have a Nobel prize medal and a sports car right now.”

“No way! I turned one of those tiny toy cars into a full-sized sports car one time,” Lou said. “I had to jump out before it shrank back to normal size but that was the best five minutes.”

“Okay,” Ravi nodded. “You win.”

“I scraped up my arm pretty bad, though,” Lou said. “But it was worth it for the scar.” She rolled up the sleeve of her blazer to show him the scar that ran from the bottom of her elbow to the middle of her forearm. “It makes the other witches think twice before challenging me in a sparring match. We use magic instead of our fist, of course. But still.”

Ravi extended his left arm and twisted it so that his palm faced up. He pointed to a small scar three inches from his wrist. “I got this from a Bunsen burner accident,” he said. “I would’ve gotten in trouble for using the science lab unsupervised, but I do my principal’s taxes. So, she let me off the hook.”

“We both have scars. We both love animals. We both know this isn’t a dream,” Lou said.

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s a dream. I just can’t figure out why my subconscious, Lou, is so adamant about convincing me it’s real.”

“I’m not your subconscious, Ravi. Watch,” she said. She looked around the room at all the candles Emma had set up for the spell. Her eyes flickered and within a few seconds all of the flames flickered in the sunlight. “I made fire.”

“You lit candles,” Ravi said with a chuckle. “I’ve seen my mom light candles numerous times. She gets them delivered every other week. That’s probably why there are so many candles in my dream.” He looked around. “I am surprised they aren’t lemon scented. Those are her favorites.”

Lou sighed. She sat straighter from her slouched posture on the couch. She hummed as her eyes scanned the room. She looked up at the ceiling and smiled. “What about now,” she said. She winked at the fairies watching intently from their mural. She snapped her fingers and glossy flower petals fell freely from the painting. The petals littered the room, careful not to drift into a candle flame.

Ravi watched the scene in awe. He stuttered, “I don’t quite know how to explain that one.”

“It’s magic,” Lou spoke quietly. “I’m a witch.”

Ravi returned his attention from the falling petals to Lou’s kind eyes. A petal landed in her hair. He unconsciously brushed it away, but left his hand to rest on her face. She felt her breath catch in her throat as he leaned forward.

“Ravi? Dude! Is that you?”

Both Ravi and Lou quickly turned to look at the doorway behind them. There stood Emma and the football player, hand in hand. Emma was swinging a picnic basket. 

Ravi recognized his friend. “Xander!”

Xander, the football player, had gotten rid of his game padding but still had on his jersey and uniform sweats.

“We had the best picnic,” Emma gushed. “At least until Hazel found us. And harassed us. Well mostly harassed Xander.”

Xander nodded and shuddered.

“But I turned her into a toad for the next half hour,” Emma said. She thought for a moment and then asked, “Giant-possessed-woodchucks don’t eat toads, right?”

“She’ll be fine,” Lou said as she scooted away from Ravi to the opposite end of the couch. She snapped her fingers and the flowers stopped falling. “Besides, I know for a fact she can undo that spell. I turned her into a toad twice last week.”

“Cool,” Xander said. “This dream has everything.” He smiled at Emma and asked, “Can we go to that lake you mentioned now? I’ve always wanted to breathe underwater.”

Emma nodded but Lou caught her attention by saying, “Actually, Emma, would you mind sending Xander and Ravi back to their own school? I still haven’t got the hang of that sort of spell and it’s probably best if they go together and not alone...I want Ravi to be safe.”

“Boo!” Emma and Xander jeered at Lou at the same time. They turned to each other and their shoulders relaxed as they lovingly gazed at the other and said, “Ah! Jinx, you owe me a La Croix.” They burst into a fit of giggles and Emma made a flurry of butterflies flutter around the room.

“Dang it, they’re cuter than a puppy dressed in a moose costume!” Lou blurted out as she swatted away the colorful wings of a butterfly.

“We are,” Emma pouted. “So, don’t make him go yet.” She finally realized there was a fourth person in the common room. “I see you did the spell. Don’t you like your cute boy?”

“He thinks it’s a dream,” Lou said with a hint of sadness and frustration in her voice. She cleared her throat. “Besides, I told you that I’m fine with being...you know.”

“Lonely?” Emma offered. She frowned and said, “But when we came in here a second ago, you looked like…”

Emma paused to point up at the mural on the ceiling. Through the butterflies, the painted fairies could be seen making kissy faces at each other. 

Xander chuckled and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you two did kind of look like that.”

Lou shot a spark from her finger at one of the fairies and sent all the butterflies out into the hallway.

“Besides,” Xander said, “This is all a dream. My dream. And in my dream, we don’t have to go yet.”

Emma widened her eyes and pleaded to Lou and Ravi with just a longing look. Ravi held his hand up for Emma to give him a moment. He stood and walked over to the window. He waved Lou over and turned his back to the couple by the door.

“This isn’t a dream, is it?” Ravi whispered to Lou.

Lou fidgeted with the sleeve of her blazer. She glanced out the window at the autumn forest and then back at the gold bowl that had been long forgotten on the floor.

“What do you think?” she whispered back to him.

He studied her face for a moment before resolutely turning back to Emma and Xander.

“You’re right, Xander,” Ravi said as he clasped his hands together and nodded. “This is your dream. All your elaborate imagination.”

“Alright! I knew it,” Xander cheered.

“We’ll be at the lake!” Emma said. She mouthed a thank you to Lou and Ravi before hurrying out into the hallway with Xander.

The mahogany door echoed after it was slammed shut. Lou watched Ravi walk over to the gold bowl. He picked it up and handed it to her.

“You might want to hide this with the other things you mentioned earlier,” he said to her. “A cloak and such?”

Lou nodded and pressed her thumbs into the rim of the bowl. “Oh, yeah. I can see this causing problems in the future.”

Ravi rocked on his heels and said, “Your friend will have to call Xander’s cell phone next time instead of poofing him out of a football game.”

Lou chuckled. She made a gentle gust of wind from her palms to put out the candles.

“And I could give you my number, if you wanted,” Ravi said, shyly looking to the side. “I’d be happy to talk about animals or movies or scars with you.”

“I’d like that,” Lou said. She gestured with the bowl to the couch. “I also liked whatever was about to happen over there before Emma and Xander walked in.”

They smiled at each other. There was a roar and more rumbling outside the window.

“I’ve got to remove a curse from Mr. Woodchuck now,” Lou said nonchalantly. “Wait for me here?”

Ravi scrunched his eyebrows. “Curse?” He glanced out the window and saw the fangs of the giant woodchuck. The witch with the platinum pigtails from when he first appeared was standing on the shoulder of the beast cackling.

“Unless you wanted to leave on the broom?” Lou asked.

“No, it’s fine. I might be cowering behind your couch by the time you get back, but I definitely won’t leave.” He gazed at her with bright eyes. “As long as you promise to return.”

Lou’s face heated and she contemplated letting her possessed woodchuck continue its rampage in favor of staying inside with Ravi.

“I should probably go, right?”


	5. Coffee Shop Cutie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lou gets the number of the cute barista from the coffee shop outside of camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I do not own Bunk'd. This collection of unrelated oneshots was inspired by OTP prompts found on tumblr.

The sun rose earlier during the summer months, so Camp Kikiwaka counselors had over an hour of daylight before work began at 8 a.m. Most counselors choose to remain asleep, but a few early birds decided to make the most of their kid-free time. Some would swim or go for walks with friends. Some would sneak off to the kitchen and get a head start on breakfast in order to avoid the grossest of the expired food. Others enjoyed the morning with their girlfriend or boyfriend, smooching at the Spot or spending time talking on the lawn.

For the past two weeks, Lou had spent her mornings walking with Ravi to the coffee shop in town. She had awoken early one morning, about 6:30 a.m., and had decided to take the twenty-minute walk into town. On her way, Ravi had spotted her and asked if she wanted company on her trip. They had kept the same routine since then.

“I really like… this,” Lou said as she and Ravi walked down the greenway trail that led from the camp to the town of Moose Rump.

“Me too! I’m so glad that Gladys lets us walk to town now,” Ravi replied. “It’s nice to get outside the camp.”

“Yeah, get outside camp...” Lou winced at her awkwardness. Honestly, the morning walks had become one of her favorite times of the day. It wasn’t often that they got to hang out, just the two of them, so she made sure each night that her alarm clock was set with the sunrise.

“Between letting us walk to town and removing some questionable items from the usual camp menu, she’s made a lot of changes this year,” Ravi said.

“Yeah, strangely enough, she’s been a lot more mellow since Hazel burnt down half the camp last summer. Guess I should’ve let Crazel have access to fire sooner.”

Ravi chuckled. “Gladys’ good cheer might have to do with that firefighter she’s dating. And I’m pretty sure she pocketed a percentage of the insurance money the camp received from the fire.”

“Guess her dreams came true,” Lou said. She stepped over a fallen tree branch. “And it couldn’t have been soon enough. She started asking me to help her with her dating profile.”

“Yikes. I don’t envy you.”

“Tell me about it. There aren’t enough filters in the world to hide her personality.”

They both laughed and the sound mingled with some chirping birds in the trees. Lou noticed the polo shirt with the camp logo that Ravi was wearing.

“Hey, we’re twins today! Matching shirts,” Lou said as she pointed at the logo on her matching polo shirt in the same color.

“We’re twins every other day, Lou. Along with twenty other counselors.”

Lou rejected the urge to slap her forehead. Duh, they matched. There were only five variations of camp shirts that were sold. She focused on the trail in front of her and tried not to think about how often these instances of her saying something dumb were occurring nowadays.

“Besides, you look much better than me in it,” he said.

Lou held her breath to keep from giggling like she’d lost her mind. Lately, whenever he said anything remotely flattering, she would feel like a silly kid with a crush.

Finally, they arrived at the coffee shop. It was one of the first places in town that a person would see if they’d just taken the greenway trail. The coffee shop used to be a mechanic’s garage for clunkers but had been renovated into a trendy place for coffee, tea, and pastries. The early morning crowd usually consisted of other counselors who had walked there for chocolatey espresso drinks and seasoned adults starting their day with coffee and croissants.

Lou walked up to the counter and was unsurprised to see the cute barista in a brown apron covered in buttons of cartoon coffee cups and hearts that was there every time they visited.

“Let’s see, a cold brew for Ravi,” the barista said, writing the order on a to-go cup with an orange sharpie. “And a mocha for…”

Lou smirked. This had become her new favorite game at the shop. She had been waking up in the morning with an answer loaded in her brain and each time she had never failed to get a laugh out of Ravi. 

“Superwoman,” Lou said. She even stood with her feet shoulder-width apart and put her hands on her waist in a confident pose. “Dang it, I forgot my cape, again. Better add an extra shot of espresso.”

On cue, Ravi laughed and Lou was ready to start her day. Proud of the results, Lou looked to the barista for a reaction, which was also normally a laugh and a friendly smile. But today was different.

The barista sighed and sat Lou’s empty cup on the counter. ‘Superwoman’ was written on its side in neat letters. The barista leaned against the counter and said, “You’ve been Spiderman, Killer Frost, Vixen, Loki...”

“Oh! I remember Loki,” Ravi said. “I liked that one. Picking a villain was a twist.”

“You think?” Lou beamed.

“I thought so, too!” the barista said quickly. “Me…”

Lou put cash on the counter for the drinks and said, “And next week, I may be Wonder Woman.”

“Alright, Wonder Woman. One mocha, extra shot, coming up,” the barista said in a flirty tone.

Lou gave a friendly smile and stuffed two dollars into the overloaded tip jar. She didn’t notice the flirty tone or the way the barista checked her out before going to make drinks. She turned and spotted a small table near the refurbished garage door. 

“Over here, Ravi,” she said, heading for the table. There was only one chair at the table, so she grabbed another on the way and sat it opposite hers. “Here you go,” she said.

“Thanks,” Ravi said as he got comfortable. “And thanks for the coffee. You didn’t have to buy mine.”

“I know. I just wanted to do something nice.”

“That’s so sweet.”

“You’re so sweet,” Lou said and immediately regretted it. She looked at the wall and took a big gulp of her mocha.

Unfazed, Ravi looked around the coffee shop. He spotted a group of paintings that were hung to form a diamond. “Oh, look! Some new paintings are on display.”

Lou looked over her shoulder and saw the paintings hanging over the table where the extra napkins and lids were located. The theme was yellow plants: daffodils, sunflowers, dandelions. 

“Pretty,” Lou said as she admired the paintings.

“Let me guess. The one on the… left. That one’s your favorite. With the giant sunflower at dusk,” Ravi said.

Lou turned back to face him and said, “It is!”

“You love sunflowers,” Ravi said, looking at the painting one more time. “And when the sky looks like that with the pretty colors.”

Lou held her breath again. 

“I mentioned the coffee shop paintings once and Jorge strongly advised that I email the shop owner and request a rotation of his paintings be added to the display,” Ravi said. “And by strongly advised, I mean he threatened to put a snake under my pillow if I didn’t.”

Lou exhaled. She smiled and said, “He has gotten a lot better. It’s nice to see him excited about something other than food and girls.”

“Painting may still be third on that list.”

“True. But he loves when you say nice things about his paintings. He really looks up to you, Ravi… You’re a good person.”

“Well I’ve tried to provide more helpful criticism and encouragement now that I’m a counselor. The harsh critiques on his artwork during my time as a CIT were not helpful.”

“And it earned you a lot of poisoned chili,” Lou nodded.

Ravi raised his eyebrows at her. “What was that?”

Lou’s eyes widened. “Oh,” she said slowly. She tilted her head to the side and asked, “You really didn’t know? Weren’t you concerned about all those spontaneous trips to the bathroom in the middle of dinner?”

“I thought I just had a weak digestive system,” Ravi mumbled as he stared off into space.

Lou scrunched her nose and shook her head. “No, you had a case of Jorge getting back at you for hating on his paintings. And I’m pretty sure Griff helped him get the laxatives.”

“It took me weeks to gain that weight back.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about Jorge’s laxatives anymore. He’s happier with your positive feedback.”

“Good,” Ravi said. “And by the way, I think you’re a good person, too. Like, duh. You’re the nicest person on the planet.”

Before Lou could reply, the barista walked up to their table with two cups in hand. One was placed in front of Ravi. The other was placed in front of Lou.

“Here you go, Ravi,” the barista said, and then, in a more attentive tone, “And for you, Wonder Woman.”

“Thank you,” Ravi said politely.

“Thanks,” Lou said with a smile as she picked up her cup. She took a sip and hummed. “So good. As always.”

“Just like you...let me know if you need anything,” the barista said with a flirty look.

“Sure, okay,” Lou replied. Her eyes shifted back to Ravi.

“Later, Wonder Woman.”

Ravi watched the barista return to the counter.

“So, now that you’re a counselor, what’s your favorite part?” Lou asked. She took another sip of her drink and leaned forward in attention. 

Ravi blinked. He discreetly pointed in the direction of the barista behind the counter and asked, “Don’t you want to talk about... you know?”

Lou blinked and asked, “Talk about what?”

Ravi stared at her wordlessly. He glanced at the cute barista and then back at Lou. Finally, he said, “Never mind.”

“Okay, weirdo,” she said good-naturedly. “Are you going to answer my question?”

“Uh... So far, I’ve really enjoyed… the added responsibility. I’ve really seen my leadership skills grown.”

Lou rolled her eyes. “Come on, Ravi. It’s not an interview. It’s us getting to know each other better.”

“We’ve known each other for nearly three years.”

“Okay… but what are you liking so far about being a counselor? Or would you rather go back to being a CIT.”

“Oh heavens, no. I can’t go back. I’ve become too acquainted with the authority that comes along with being a counselor. The kids have even stopped calling me Ronnie.”

Lou giggled. “You’re so funny, Ronnie.”

“Ha ha,” Ravi said sarcastically. He opened the lid of his drink and took a sip. “I’m going to need this coffee. Grizzly cabin is scheduled for a canoe race against Bobcat cabin this afternoon.”

“Oh, you’re toast,” Lou replied. “Not only do both Griff and Jorge have crushes on two of the Bobcat campers, but their counselor hates Xander. She vowed to defeat him in everything this year because he’s won the talent competition for like the past hundred years.”

“Thanks for the pep talk, Lou.” He sighed. 

“I’m sure you’ll look good losing, though. You normally do,” Lou said. She felt like she was close to crossing the line between friendly and flirty, but she wasn’t sure if he’d notice.

“Oh well. At least after my horrible defeat, I’ll get to help Murphy with dinner,” he said with a shrug.

“I can’t believe he asked for your help instead of mine. I’m a way better cook,” Lou said as she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. She held her cup in her hand and Ravi could see the writing on it.

“Lou, look!”

Lou frowned and looked down, seeing if she spilled coffee on herself. She didn’t see any stains.

“No, your cup, Lou,” Ravi explained. He leaned forward and took the cup from her hand. He turned it so she could see the phone number written beneath ‘Superwoman.’

“That looks like a phone number,” Lou said, confused.

“My suspicions were correct,” Ravi said, “The barista likes you.”

“Suspicions?”

“It makes sense. You’re a catch.”

“Hold on...would you mind repeating that?”

“Lou, look behind you.”

She looked over her shoulder and the barista winked at her. Her face heated and she quickly turned back to Ravi. She studied his expression and her stomach sank. He didn’t look jealous at all. He actually looked happy.

“I knew it. With all the flirty chemistry,” Ravi said as he nodded.

“Flirty chemistry?”

“Yeah, that thing you do with the superhero names.”

Lou wanted to bang her head against the table or holler out country-styled obscenities in the middle of the shop. Instead she searched her brain for an excuse to get out of there. Maybe she could salvage their morning alone time with a change of scenery.

“Hey, I completely forgot...um...Tiffany asked about that bookshop owner. Yeah, the one across the street,” Lou started. “She wanted me to ask about something.”

Ravi’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Was it a guest speaker? Tiffany mentioned at our last book club meeting something about wanting to get an author to come speak to the campers.”

Lou snapped her fingers and exclaimed, “Exactly! That’s something that I knew. So, uh...could we go do that?”

Ravi was silent for a moment as he looked at her. Lou held her breath in nervousness. She worried if he could see through her weak excuse. He looked over at the barista and then back at Lou. Suddenly, he grinned.

“I get it,” Ravi said. “You’d like some time with your love interest.”

He winked at her and Lou’s heart melted. She resisted the urge to wink back at him when she remembered that he was clueless and wasn’t even close to flirting with her. 

“You don’t really want the two of us to go. You’d actually like it if I went on the errand alone,” Ravi said.

Lou sighed and nodded wordlessly.

“I’ll meet you on the path back to camp. Good luck, gal pal,” he said. “You won’t need it, though.” He stood, accidentally leaving his cup behind, and walked out the door.

Once he left, Lou slouched in her seat. She tapped her cup lightly on the table and stared out the window.

“This is Mordecai all over again,” Lou muttered to herself. “I didn’t shoot my shot and now I’m here alone...staring at his stupid coffee cup.” She snatched it off the table and frowned. “Stupid, Ravi. Practically making dinner reservations for me and the barista. Sheesh, he didn’t even blink over someone giving me their number.”

The coffee shop had gotten slightly busier while she and Ravi had been talking, but now it had settled back down. No one was at the counter and the barista was stacking tea packets in a row on the display. Lou felt guilt bubble up inside of her. She hadn’t meant to attract the barista with her name game. But the person she was trying to impress, didn’t seem to be. Lou stood up with both cups in her hands and walked over to the counter.

“Hey,” the barista greeted Lou brightly.

“Hi,” Lou replied awkwardly.

“You came over,” the barista said, casually leaning against the counter. “Does that mean you’ll call me?”

“Let me start by saying that I think you’re really cute,” Lou said with a small smile.

The barista frowned slightly, stopped leaning, and said, “Uh oh.”

“And if there wasn’t… I mean, it’s not like there’s really anyone else because he doesn’t even notice me.”

“Big uh oh,” the barista said. “There’s someone else...But then why are you always flirting with me? You know, with the fake names on your coffee. I thought it was...our thing?” 

Lou bit her lip and made her eyes big and sorrowful. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to mislead you or anything. I was doing it for…”

“Darn it, Wonder Woman! Please stop being so cute. You’re making this worse.”

“My bad. I just haven’t felt this guilty since we had that barbecue next to the pig farm.”

“Don’t feel guilty. It was my bad...I’ve got to stop reading those coffee shop AUs.”

“You seem really nice and funny. But I say those goofy names to make my friend laugh.”

“Ravi?”

Lou nodded. She stared down at Ravi’s abandoned cold brew. She wiped her thumb across the droplets of water on its side.

“It’s Ravi, right? He’s the someone else,” the barista said knowingly.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lou said as she twisted both cups on the counter. “I’d like some of him. But he doesn’t want any me. He couldn’t leave fast enough to give me some alone time with you.”

“Lucky guy.”

“Yeah, but unlucky me. I’ve been friends with the guy for almost three years and he’s never shown any romantic interest in me. Heck, I didn’t even have these feelings until the end of last summer.”

“That’s good news then. That means he could’ve started seeing you differently too.”

“Doubt it. He called me his ‘gal pal.’”

“He’s kind of a weird guy, huh?”

“Sort of...yeah, he is. But I’m weird to...and now I’m into his weirdness, which is a weird thing on its own. It might sound childish, but I wish things would go back to normal. Before these...feelings.”

“You should go for it, Wonder Woman.” 

“You can call me, Lou.”

“Lou, let me tell you a story. There was this really cute girl that worked at the camp not too far from here. She always made me laugh, so I thought I’d try asking her out. And I went for it.”

“And how did that go?” Lou smirked. “I’m assuming you’re talking about me.”

“We’re just going to be friends,” the barista shrugged. “But I could use more friends. Especially if they’re as nice as her.” 

“Aw-shucks, thanks.”

“And I’m sure if you go for it, and Ravi doesn’t feel the same way, you two will still be friends, too,” the barista said, picking up the orange sharpie and holding it out to Lou.

“What’s that for?” Lou asked as she looked down at the marker.

“Want to see what happens?” 

Fifteen minutes later, Lou stood by the posted sign for the greenway trail, anxiously waiting for Ravi to show up from his trip to the bookstore. She held her to-go cup in one hand and Ravi’s in her other. His cup now had a sleeve around its middle with orange writing on it. Both cups shook slightly in her hands as she waited. Finally, he jogged up to her with a bag in his hand.

“I barely got out of there alive,” Ravi said. “Apparently, not many customers visit at this hour and the clerk was very happy to have company.” He held up the bag. “I had to buy something to distract him long enough to ring me up and bolt out of there.”

“Were you able to get a guest speaker for Tiffany?”

“That’s what made the whole thing worth it. He gave me a list of several authors in the area during the summer. Oh, is that my coffee?”

Lou froze as he pointed at the cup in her hand. For a moment she considered chucking it into the forest and offering to just buy him a replacement tomorrow morning.

“Sure is,” she said as she let him take it from her hand.

“Thanks! I’m going to need this for the canoe race,” he said before taking a sip. He didn’t notice the writing on the cup. “Even though someone doesn’t believe the Grizzlies can win.”

“Sure, let’s go,” Lou said. She turned and walked briskly down the path.

“Hey, wait up!” Ravi shouted. He caught up to her and said, “Slow down, Lou. We’ve got plenty of time to make it back to camp by eight. Besides, it’s one of my favorite things.”

Lou didn’t slow down her pace, but asked, “Huh?”

“You asked what were my favorite parts about being a counselor, earlier,” Ravi explained as he stretched his legs to keep up with her. “One of them is getting to walk to town with you. Only counselors are allowed to do that. Good thing Gladys didn’t allow it for anyone last year or I would’ve been terribly jealous as a CIT.”

Lou slowed to a casual walking speed. Ravi let out a sigh of relief at her reduced pace and his breathing evened out.

“Speed walking isn’t my forte,” he said.

“You’d be jealous because of the coffee...or?”

“The coffee is good, but it’s not the best cold brew I’ve ever had.”

Lou had hoped for a better answer than that, but she didn’t think he had much else to say on the subject. She could see him from the corner of her eye and he looked lost in thought. She glanced down to the cup in his hand and her heart did a somersault. She both wanted him to read the cup and never see it at the same time.

“I’ve thought it over and no, the cold brew isn’t that great,” Ravi said.

“Good to know,” Lou said flatly. She stared ahead of her and saw how far the stretch of path went. This was probably the longest walk she’d ever take back to camp.

She glanced at the bag that he had hoisted onto his shoulder in order to hold his coffee. “What book did you get?” she asked.

“It’s a collection of stories based on real love stories throughout history,” Ravi answered. “I’m a bit of a romantic… even if romance evades me.”

“... It doesn’t have to…”

“In fact, I was inspired by you.”

Lou felt like she had been lit on fire. 

“So…” he nudged her with his elbow. “How’s your new romance with the barista? Your first date should be at the coffee shop! Cause that’s where you met. I can see it now…”

The fire was extinguished. Lou groaned internally. She didn’t want Ravi imaging her on a date with someone else. She wanted him to go on a date with her. 

“Not going to happen,” she said, harsher than she had meant to. She saw him giving her a confused look and sighed. “I... I said thanks but no thanks. But it’s cool. We’re just going to be friends.”

“But the chemistry? It was flirty was it not?”

“It wasn’t supposed to be flirty. I was just being funny for...everyone. I wanted everyone to laugh.”

“Oh, I must’ve misread things.”

“You sure did,” Lou muttered under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” Lou replied with a forced smile. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“Why? Did something happen?”

“No, Ravi.”

“It seems like something you’d want to talk about.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Maybe I can help.”

“Just drop it, Ravi! Can’t you just shush for like five minutes!”

Ravi stopped walking and stuck his arm out to keep her from moving forward. He stepped closer to her and held her arm gently. He looked into her eyes.

“Lou?” He asked softly. “It’s not like you to not want to talk. Are you sure everything’s okay?”

“Everything’s fine, Ravi,” she lied. She didn’t want to, but she stepped around him and kept walking. “We better not stop if we want to get back on time.”

She stopped when she didn’t hear any footsteps behind her. Panic struck her. She wondered if she turned around would he be reading the coffee sleeve in disgust. She took a deep breath and turned around. He was standing at a distance with his arms crossed.

“Everything okay?” she called out; her voice was a little shaky.

“I refuse to move from this spot until you tell me what’s wrong,” he shouted back stubbornly.

“Oh, now you notice something,” Lou grumbled to herself. She shouted back, “Ravi! We don’t have time for this!”

“I always have time for my friends’ happiness! Now tell me what’s wrong!”

She rolled her eyes and thought he couldn’t have picked a worse time to pick up on her emotions or be so sweet. She was never late to the start of the camp day. She even volunteered to sound the alarm each morning. 

“I feel bad for giving off vibes when I didn’t intend to,” Lou shouted. It was only a partial lie because she did feel bad at first, even though she was over it now. “The barista was really nice.”

“Oh! You should’ve just said so,” Ravi called as he jogged up to her. His breathing became more labored. “I could’ve avoided that sprint.”

Lou chuckled. “How is it that you still get winded so easily?”

He rolled his eyes and took her hand in his. “If you’re not going to stop when I stop, then I’ll have to hold your hand to guarantee me not having to run or speed walk or any athletic nonsense again.”

She knew he was being dramatic and fun-loving and meant nothing by holding her hand, but she felt butterflies in her stomach anyway. His fingers interlocked with hers and she wanted to rewind time to when she didn’t have any romantic feelings for him. He smiled up at her and she thought that it was unfair that he was wooing her without even knowing it or feeling anything other than friendship for her.

“You didn’t intend to hurt anyone’s feelings. And people misread vibes all the time. It’s not your fault,” Ravi said. “Don’t feel bad. You’re the nicest person on the planet, remember.”

“I remember.”

“Good. Is that settled then?”

“Yes, now let’s go. But not because anything’s wrong,” she stammered out. “I just don’t want to be late for camp.”

“Lou Hockhauser is never late for camp,” Ravi said. “And today will be no different.” 

They continued walking down the path, hand in hand. Lou would check every few seconds to see if he was looking at his coffee sleeve. He never was. She took a sip of her lukewarm mocha and prayed its espresso goodness would help her make it through the already long day.

“So, now that Hazel’s been demoted to CIT, how does it feel to be Head Counselor?” Ravi asked.

“I love Camp Kikiwaka and I love telling people what to do, so it’s pretty darn awesome.”

“Then I’m pretty darn happy for you,” he said in a jovial tone as he squeezed her hand.

She turned away and counted backwards from ten, so that he wouldn’t see her lovelorn expression. She wished she hadn’t written on his coffee cup. She was almost sure he would reject her in the nicest way possible. Only almost because she couldn’t extinguish the itty-bitty glimmer of hope holding out beneath her doubt. She figured she may as well try to get some sort of insight into the reaction he’ll have once he looks at the coffee sleeve.

“Why do you think the barista asked me out?” Lou asked.

Ravi gazed at her as they walked. “I thought you weren’t interested,” he said.

“I’m not,” Lou shrugged. “I just want to know why you think.”

“Um...I suppose because you’re funny. I always laughed at the names you said. Like Spiderman. Oh, and when you pretended to shoot spider webs from your wrist! You’re quite comical.”

“I try,” she laughed lightly.

He started swinging their connected hands slightly. She smiled over at him and he smiled back.

“Anything else? About me…”

He bunched his eyebrows together in concentration and looked down at the path.

“Or am I just funny?” Lou asked.

“You are more than funny, Lou. But this is supposed to be from the barista’s perspective. It’s just hard to distinguish what I know about you from what you present at the coffee shop in those few minutes that we’re there. We’ve only been going there for two weeks. I’ve known you for what feels like forever.”

Lou bit the inside of her cheek and looked up at the sky. She considered her next words carefully before she spoke. “Okay, then...what if it was you asking me out. If you did. Not saying that you would, but for the sake of the question I asked earlier...you know, to make it easier to answer.”

“Okay…”

Lou looked over to see if he was giving her any strange looks. He wasn’t. He took another sip of his coffee and smacked his lips as he swung their hands.

“We’ve established that you’re funny.”

“We did.”

“You’re also passionate. When you’re into something, you go for it. Remember that kickball tournament three weeks ago. I’ve never seen so many injuries during a kickball game! There were some pretty angry emails from parents, but you made sure your team won and showed no mercy.”

She smiled proudly. Again, it wasn’t the kind of answer she was fishing for, but at least he had recognized how hard she played during the tournament.

“You’re also strong,” he continued. “You picked me up the other day so that I could reach a book at the camp library. Thanks again, by the way. It was a fascinating historical fiction novel.”

“No problem,” Lou said, masking the disappointment in her voice. 

The conversation would obviously not make a romantic turn if Ravi was in charge of the steering. She decided to ask, “Where would we go on a date? You said the barista and I should have a first date at the coffee shop.”

“If I use similar criteria, then I suppose that huge tree in the forest near the lake. That’s where all of us got stuck in that tree when Hazel tricked Zuri and Emma into going out in the woods our first night at camp. I believe that night you said I was ‘lighter than a chicken’,” Ravi said. He smirked at her. “I guess much hasn’t changed, because you’re still lifting me up to reach library books. But in my defense, those shelves are far too high.”

“Hazel’s tree doesn’t sound like a very romantic date, Ravi,” Lou said, trying not to frown. “I guess, it’s difficult for you to imagine anything romantic...with me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Hazel’s tree can be plenty romantic,” Ravi said, waving his coffee cup. “All we need are fairy lights to string in the branches, a night sky bespeckled with stars, and each other.”

Lou chugged her mocha to keep herself from doing anything stupid, like spilling her heart out. The guy planned her dream date without even trying. He was still holding her hand. And he was looking at her with those eyes she could drown in. She tried to remember a time when he was just her nice friend who was kind of a klutz, but her brain refused to leave crush mode.

“I told you I was romantic,” he said.

“Got it. We’re good here,” she said in a strained voice.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Lou? I can’t help but feel like you’re acting strange.”

“Never been better.”

“And you look sort of...unwell.”

He stopped and because he had her hand she stopped too. He let go. He stepped closer and cupped her cheek. Her heart beat so fast she wouldn’t be surprised if he could hear it. 

“Your face feels warm, Lou. Are you sure you’re okay?” He stepped closer and she could feel his breath on her face. “I care about you. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m dying,” Lou said above a whisper.

Ravi raised his eyebrows and said, “Oh, no. I would’ve guessed a minor cold or something of that sort.”

“You’re killing me, Ravi.”

“What?”

“Can we please walk back to camp now?”

Ravi let go of her face and grasped her hand again. He said, “But, Lou, I don’t understand. Please, tell me what’s going on...”

“Let’s walk back to camp,” Lou said. “Quietly. Please.” 

“...Alright …”

They walked the rest of the trail in silence. Occasionally, other counselors sped by them, in a rush to get back in time. Lou checked her watch. They would get to camp with about three minutes to spare. She snuck another glance at Ravi. He had spent the rest of their walk looking hurt and confused. She felt bad for him, but wasn’t sure what was the best course of action. So, she settled for quietly putting one foot in front of the other and enjoying the feeling of his hand locked with hers.

Once they stood in front of the mess hall, Lou knew her time was up. Ravi would no doubt see the writing on the coffee sleeve around his cold brew, and be able to make sense of her weirdness during their walk. She took a deep breath and reminded herself of what the barista said. No matter what happened, Ravi was a good friend and always would be.

“I’m going to head over and set up the arts and crafts workshop,” Lou said. 

“Do you want to talk about...whatever happened back there, first?”

“Nope,” Lou said. She wiggled her hand for him to let it go, but he held it.

“I would never kill you… whatever that means. I’m just really confused about… well everything, honestly.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said as she finally freed her hand. She turned on her heels quickly, before she could regret causing the hurt look on his face. “See ya.”

She hadn’t gotten more than seven strides away from him when she heard him call out her name.

“Lou!”

She sighed and tossed her head back. She had hoped to deal with this at least after lunch. She turned back and saw him jogging up to her.

“Your phone number’s on my cup,” he said. He showed her the orange numbers written neatly on the sleeve, along with an XO and a heart.

“It is.”

Ravi’s jaw dropped slightly. “Oh, did you mean to leave this for the barista?”

Lou glared at him in frustration. “No, Ravi,” she said in an annoyed tone. “It’s your coffee cup.”

Ravi stared at the cup and then stared at Lou. The morning alarm chimed throughout camp.  
“I don’t follow,” he said.

Lou twisted her own cup in her hands. “It’s my number...so you can call me.”

“But I’m talking to you right now. Or at least I’m trying to talk to you. What did you mean when you said you were dying?”

Lou clenched her cup to keep from shaking the guy in front of her. “Oh, my gizzards, Ravi, you’re making this so difficult!”

“What so difficult?”

“I like you!” Lou shouted. “There I said it! I like you. A lot. You’re fun to be around. I like that you smell like jasmine and honeysuckle. You make me willing to read historical fiction. I. Like. You!”

Ravi looked dumbstruck. 

“And it’s okay...if you don’t like me back. We are first and foremost friends. And I don’t want to lose you,” Lou said. “Could you please say something?”

“Oh… Wait, oh! Alright then. Okay… Very much okay.”

“Say something that I understand,” Lou said impatiently.

He took one of her hands in his and interlocked their fingers. He smiled at her and his eyes were bright with joy and admiration. “I’m going to find some fairy lights,” he said.


	6. The Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The only people ever at the library are Ravi, the library clerk, and the teenage couple that insists on making out in the back shelves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I do not own Bunk'd. This collection of unrelated oneshots was inspired by OTP prompts found on tumblr.

Ravi parked in the garage and glanced down at his phone in the cupholder. It lit up with another message from his roommates. He sighed and picked up the phone to scroll through the unanswered messages:

_R u home? U cook 2nite?_

_Tacos. No vegan._

_Do you know when you’ll be home I need to eat early or I’ll get cereal I need to work on that project Did you start yet Can you look over my notes for it Are you going to be late Jay’s doing dinner tonight right_

Every Friday after his 4 p.m. differential equations course, Ravi would drive home from his college’s campus, swap out his books, and walk to the local library near the house he shared with three other roommates from his Engineering major. Today he decided against swapping out his books in order to avoid annoying questions and dinner requests. He sent a quick message to all three guys:

_Hey, guys. Sorry! At the library._

He grabbed his backpack and quietly shut the car door. He tiptoed to the other side of the garage and snuck out the door leading to the small outdoor space between their house and the neighbor’s house. He sprinted down the sidewalk until he was confident that he was out of view of his roommates’ windows.

It was an easy fifteen-minute walk to the library on Elme Street. The building looked more like a small office than a library. The parking lot only had eight spots and only one of them was ever filled. The grassy area behind the building had two picnic tables. One was covered in pen carvings and the other had a broken bench where the wood was split down the middle. In front of the building was a sign that held a new cheery message each week. This week it read: Even when it rains, you can be sunshine. Brighten someone’s day!

The cheery messages were written by the owner of the only car ever in the parking lot, the library clerk. Her name was Lou, which Ravi only knew because of the nameplate on her desk. She was very pretty and she always smiled at him whenever he walked into the library. Today was no different. He walked in; she smiled at him; he smiled back. Each week he tried to think of some sort of follow-up interaction, but he was never satisfied with what he came up with in his head and settled for ignoring her for the rest of the evening.

He felt ridiculous never actually speaking to her even though she was the only other human he’d ever seen in the library while he was there. When he was on campus, he spoke to other people in the crowded library. Or more so, other people spoke to him, asking for help with a class or for answers to a lab assignment. That was part of the reason why he opted for studying off campus.

The thump of a hardcover book hitting the floor reminded him that technically it wasn’t true that he and the library clerk were the only two people in the building. But the other two people that were always there on Fridays may as well have been ghosts. He had never seen them. He only heard them as they smooched loudly behind the shelves. The first two times that he had heard them, he was so embarrassed that he had left the library early. After that, he didn’t notice it anymore. He studied with his headphones on most of the time and if he did happen to hear their ardent kissing, he rolled his eyes and continued studying.

More books thumped against the floor. Ravi scrunched his eyebrows. That had been the fourth time that night. It was pretty out of character for the couple to be so intense. Yes, they normally spent their entire time making out in the back of the library, but it was hardly ever this rowdy in the past three months that he’d been studying there. They kept stumbling into shelves and occasionally knocking over the display books between the biographies and art history sections.

“Sheesh,” Ravi grumbled as he increased the volume for his headphones.

He glanced over at the library clerk, who was seated at her desk not far from him. She’d obviously heard the racket too and the look on her face was a cross between amusement and disbelief. She shook her head and as she turned away, she caught him looking in her direction. Ravi dropped his gaze back down to his book and didn’t look up again until Lou was seated in the chair beside him.

Surprised, he removed his headphones. “Hey, Lou,” he greeted her. He hoped that she didn’t think it was weird that he knew her name.

Lou didn’t bother with a greeting. She pointed a thumb over her shoulder, indicating the direction of the couple hidden by the shelves and said, “Those two are clingier than wool on sheep.”

Ravi chuckled. “That’s certainly clingy.”

Lou said, “They’re literally the only two people in here on a Friday...every Friday.”

“I’ve noticed.”  
He wondered if she noticed that he was at the library every Friday as well. He was pretty confident that she hadn’t. Why would she?

“What do you think their story is?” Lou asked. She leaned her elbows on the table and propped up her chin.

Ravi closed his notebook and pushed his laptop to the side, no longer interested in partial derivatives, and said, “I don’t follow?”

Lou smirked, “Like how did they meet?”

Ravi answered automatically, “I don’t know them, so I don’t know how they met.”

Lou rolled her eyes. She dropped her arms to the table and leaned in like she had a secret to tell him. He gulped.

“It’s so clear...” she whispered.

Ravi looked more confused but whispered back, “What’s clear?”

Her eyes glistened in amusement as she said, “That she’s an assassin on a mission to kill him, but she didn’t expect to fall in love.” 

Ravi bunched his eyebrows. “So, you do know them?” He looked off to the direction of the noise. “They seem young for that line of work.”

Lou looked at him with a blank expression. “Okay,” she said in a deflated tone. She stood and went back to her desk.

Ravi felt a wave of disappointment sweep over him. He wasn’t sure how or what he messed up, but he was certain he did mess up whatever it was. He brought his laptop closer to him and his eyes scanned the mathematical model the program he was running had produced. A full minute passed before Ravi realized what had happened. 

“Oh! You were making that up!” he shouted.

Lou gave him a small smile and went back to typing. 

A quiet stillness rested over the front of the library while the back continued to be noisy with falling books and smacking lips.

Lou knew the couple in the back were just two teenagers from the residential area surrounding the library. She figured they did so much kissing in the library because when you’re sixteen with no car and stern parents the empty library at the end of the street was the most romantic spot in town. The kissing was likely more intense today because it was the Friday before Thanksgiving break, which meant the library would be closed next Friday.

Lou chuckled to herself and put in her headphones. She felt awkward being an auditory witness, but it was her job to run the library and the couple made it feel more like a public building and less like a void. Besides, the couple only showed up on Fridays. Monday through Thursday the only other humans Lou encountered at the library were the mail-delivery person and the morning janitor. All other patrons called the desk phone to ask about checking-out books online.

“Author lecture. Downtown branch,” Lou muttered to herself as her eyes scanned an email.

She sighed in boredom. She looked up from the monitor on her desk to Ravi at the long table across from her. He was jotting something down from his laptop into his notebook. She had finally said more than five words to him today. He always looked so busy when he was there that she didn’t want to disturb him. She knew his name because he had signed up for a library card back in August, which was strange to her because most people get their cards at the main branch downtown or use the same one they’ve had since they were seven. He always smiled at her when he entered the building and he always sat at the long table across from her desk. When she had told Tiffany, the fifteen-year-old kid that Lou gave archery lessons on the weekend, that seeing him was the best part of her Fridays, Tiffany had gagged and told her not to bring her personal life to the lessons.

Lou drummed her fingers on her desk. She glanced at her computer and then back to Ravi. She took out her headphones and cleared her throat.

“Hey,” she called out.

Ravi blinked and removed his headphones. “Yes?”

“Do you…” Lou started to speak but was interrupted by a crash from the back of the library. She let out a breath and stood. “I better go enforce some library rules.”

Ravi nodded and closed his laptop. “And I better get home. It’s my turn to cook dinner for my roommates. And my brother is visiting this weekend, so I’ve got to get space for him ready.”

“Cool,” she replied.

“Cool,” he parroted.

“Bye. And oh, have a good Thanksgiving!”

“Thanks! You too, uh, have a good Thanksgiving. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

Lou hoped she didn’t look disappointed as she waved him goodbye. There was another crash and she shouted, “I will drag you both out to the sprinklers if you don’t calm down!”

“Sorry!” One of them shouted back.

Lou shook her head and sat back down at her desk. She looked over to the now empty spot where Ravi had been studying.

“Lucky, rugrats,” she grumbled to herself as she put her headphones back in.

* * *

Ravi’s weekend was spent cleaning up after his older brother and roommates. His roommates loved when Luke visited because he had a gift for throwing parties that always attracted the best-looking people with the most interesting stories. It always gave Ravi and his roommates enough popularity to be invited to more parties later in the semester. Nonetheless, Ravi didn’t care for being awkward at parties and only entertained them when Luke visited.

The rest of his Thanksgiving break was spent in New York City with his family. He had flown there with Luke after his visit. Between shopping with his sisters, catching musicals with his dad, and watching rom-coms with his mom, Ravi replayed his short conversation with Lou in his head. He imagined different scenarios in which he’d say something funny or charming or witty and didn’t look like an idiot. He had told Luke about the joke Lou had made at the library and asked what he would do in his situation.

“Is she cute?” Luke had asked.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Was she at the party? Was she the one dressed up like the Flash? She was cute.”

“No, Luke. Do you have any advice or not?”

“Get her number.”

“That’s your advice. You expect me to waltz into the library and ask for her number.”

“That’s how it works for me.”

Ravi returned from his Thanksgiving break with no plan of action. By the time the first Friday in December finally arrived, he had scraped together a plan: Tell her a joke. Tell her his name. Tell her his number. He lacked focus during class. He sped out of the parking garage on campus. He ignored his roommates as he swapped out his books. He ran to the library.

“Hello, Lou,” Ravi said automatically when he walked into the library. His face heated. In his mind, he had practiced greeting her as soon as he walked in. However, Lou was not at her desk at the moment.

“Great start,” he muttered to himself.

He went and set up his laptop, books, and notebook in his usual spot at the long table across from the library clerk’s desk. 

“I love you so much,” someone spoke softly.

Ravi looked up toward the entrance. It was a teen couple walking so close together you’d have thought they shared a lung. They didn’t acknowledge him, only having eyes for each other. Ravi couldn’t believe he had at last seen the couple after only hearing them for months. He flipped open one of his books and by the time he looked up again the couple had already disappeared to the biography section.

“More people getting more romance than me,” he sighed to himself.

Time ticked by on his watch. He would occasionally stop working on his assignment to check Lou’s desk. She still hadn’t returned after an hour. He checked over his shoulder for any sign of her nearby. There were only two long tables in the small library. All the rest were round tables that only fit four chairs. Even the long tables weren’t that long, only seating four people on each side. Every seat but his was empty. 

The ceiling was checkered with rectangles of bright light and speckled tile. Not much natural light made it through the tinted windows. Everything was dusted and cleaned. Nothing was out of place from the Friday before or the Friday before that. The shelves were full of color, but there was an eeriness to the emptiness.

“Lou?” 

Ravi winced after he said her name out loud. What kind of stalker was he? This was her job after all and he was sure that she had more important things to do than sit across from him while he wondered if she had a boyfriend.

“I’m over here!”

Ravi jumped slightly at the sound of Lou’s voice. He saw her peek her head around the shelf on the opposite side of the room. Her ponytail swung like a pendulum and he could see the shoulder of the purple sweater she sometimes wore.

“I’m over here,” she said again before disappearing behind the shelf.

He felt something tighten inside his chest as nervousness gripped him. He thought about all of the scenarios that he had played in his head and how none of them would have a chance of happening if he never actually talked to her.

“Joke, name, number,” he quietly listed to himself. He shook his arms and stood. “Joke, name, number.” He jogged in place for a moment before he made his way over to her.

“And the stars shine...hmm...yeah...and the moonlight,” Lou sang softly to herself as she stacked books.

She was in the children’s section of the library. There was a vividly colored mat on the carpet and four bean bag chairs. Tiny plastic tables and plastic chairs were arranged neatly. A poster of handprints in loud colors took up a quarter of the wall. Ravi wondered if a child had ever been in the space.

“Seems like a waste, huh,” Lou said as if she had read his thoughts. “I like to think during the summer this place is packed tighter than my mama's purse when she leaves a buffet. Which, come to think of it, is exactly what she did at Thanksgiving.”

Ravi smiled and nodded. He was nervous all over again now that she was being funny and cute. She was holding up a book titled, “I’ll Moo-se You,” that had a cartoon moose holding a big, red heart.

Before Ravi lost all his nerve, he blurted out, “She’s the ghost of a former librarian and he’s the ghost of a former janitor. While they were both alive, they worked at this library but they never admitted their feelings to one another. Now that they’re both ghosts, they’ve decided to make up for lost time.”

Lou stared at him blankly.

Ravi’s stomach sank at the thought that Lou might not get that he was resuming her game of Who Is Making Out In the Biography Section. His entire plan depended on her getting the joke. He took a step back, preparing to backout of the situation and sulk behind his books.

“Good one,” Lou said. She was smiling at the realization of the resuming of her game. “Tragic, but with a twist.”

“Yes! Exactly.” He stuck out his hand for her to shake and introduced himself. “I’m Ravi, by the way.”

Lou couldn’t believe her luck. First, earlier that day she had found a coupon for breakfast at her favorite omelet place. Second, she had found bubble wrap in one of the packages mailed to the library. It had cured some of her boredom during her lunch break. And now, the cute guy that studied there on Fridays had actively sought her out and introduced himself.

She shook his hand and replied, “I know.”

Ravi raised his eyebrows and asked, “You do?”

Lou froze. Her face heated up. She turned quickly to the shelf and busied herself with finding the perfect spot for the moose book. She shrugged and replied, “I remember everyone who signs up for a library card here.”

Smooth, she thought to herself. She propped the book up on a stand on the shelf and turned back to face him.

“Duh,” Ravi said as he tapped his forehead. “That makes total sense.”

Lou nodded; glad he’d bought her excuse. She walked over to one of the kid tables and picked up a colorful pile of paper snowflakes.

“One of my many duties,” Lou said. “Also, I make snowflakes and snow angels out of construction paper.” She handed him one.

“Orange snowflakes? Creative,” Ravi said. “And festive.”

Lou laughed. “The zero children that visit this library will appreciate my festive snowflakes.”

“Oh, no doubt. These snowflakes will be the talk of imaginary playgrounds everywhere,” he said with a mock seriousness.

Lou laughed again. He laughed too. She thought about asking for his number, but she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. She thought it would be rude to ruin someone’s study spot by not keeping her feelings in check.

“It’s annoying how you can hear them from all the way over here,” Lou said at the sound of a shelf being stumbled into.

Ravi winced. He had forgotten that anyone else was in the library besides he and Lou. He handed her back the snowflake.

“And think about: all they had to do was admit their feelings before they became ghosts,” he said.

The phone at the front desk rang. Lou gently tossed the pile of snowflakes back to the table. 

“That’s for me,” she said.

“Yes, of course,” Ravi said. “I need to get back to studying anyway.” He looked down at the pile of snowflakes and regretted not offering her his phone number before she walked away. He knew once she left the children’s section of the library, all his courage would be spent for the day.

“Hey, Ravi,” Lou said over her shoulder. “Nice to officially meet you.”

Dumbfounded, Ravi waved her goodbye. He knew he probably had a dopey expression on his face that his sister Zuri would make fun of, but he didn’t care. He resolved to give Lou his number...eventually.

* * *

The cafe was busy with the weekend crowd. A waiter balanced one full tray of breakfast foods in one hand and an extra chair for a large group in the other. Kids were bouncing in the booth by the window, flinging crayons and blueberries. Christmas music played over a loudspeaker.

“So, let me see if I’m understanding this right,” Xander said as he sat his fork down on the table. “You spend every Friday night flirting with some guy…”

“His name’s Ravi,” Lou said. She sat opposite Xander in the corner by the blinking Christmas tree. “And he studies there on Tuesday and Thursday nights now too.”

Xander sipped on his orange juice and sighed. “Seriously? He’s there three times a week flirting with you at the library…”

“It’s not flirting,” Lou said as she rolled her eyes. She used her fork to poke at the cheese melting around her omelet.

“You spend Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday flirting with Ravi at the library and you still haven’t gotten his number?” Xander shook his head and took a bite out of his waffle. “You’re crazier than Hazel.”

“It’s not flirting,” Lou said stiffly. “It’s just some stupid game that I came up with to joke about the teenagers making out behind the shelves.”

“Why are you making fun of them? Sounds like they’ve got their love life figured out and you’re too chicken to ask out Ravi.”

Lou flung her napkin at him. “I can’t believe you compared me to Hazel. She broke into our apartment two weeks ago.”

Xander pointed his fork in her direction and said, “No, you let her in because she said she had bagels and coffee.”

“I like bagels and coffee,” Lou mumbled and shrugged.

“And she snuck into my room and stole one of my favorite band shirts,” Xander said before taking another bite of waffle. Crumbs fell down his chin as he added, “She won’t give it back.”

“My point exactly! She’s crazy. And I’m not,” Lou said as she leaned back in her seat. “So, don’t compare us.”

“But she goes for what she wants,” Xander said and gave her a pointed look.

“Okay, judgey much,” Lou said. “What about you? I haven’t seen you out on a date since Rebecca.”

“We’re not talking about me,” Xander said as he poured syrup on his half-eaten waffle. “We’re talking about you. Tell me about your ‘not flirting’ with the library guy.”

Lou folded her lips and crossed her arms. She considered stretching across the table and punching her best friend in the arm. He waited patiently, munching on his waffle and sipping orange juice. She unfolded her arms, leaned forward, and sighed.

“Fine,” Lou said. “So, our Friday routine’s a little more concrete than Tuesdays and Thursdays. He’s really smart and busy with school, so on those days he’s only there for about an hour. But on Fridays he spends the first half hour walking with me as I change out books on the display. Then I spend an hour distracting him from studying by telling him silly stories about my archery lessons or growing up on the farm.”

“How are Tiffany’s lessons going? Is she still your best student?” Xander interrupted.

“Who cares? I’m talking about Ravi and…” Lou’s eyes widened as she realized her internal thoughts were being voiced. “No, no. I mean I totally care about Tiffany and she’s doing really…”

“Too late,” Xander smirked. “You meant what you said. Oh, don’t get all pouty. I know you care about Tiffany and all your archery students. You’re just excited about this guy.”

“I’m not excited,” Lou said. She took a sip of her orange juice and smacked her lips. “I just like Fridays.”

Xander nodded. “Uh huh, ‘Fridays’. And Tuesdays. And Thursdays.”  
“Oh, shush.” Lou tapped her fork on the edge of her plate and stared down at her uneaten omelet. “And the most important part of our routine is coming up with backstories for the couple kissing in the back of the library.”

* * *

Lou and Ravi sat on top of the picnic table behind the library on a Tuesday afternoon. Lou had closed the building like she always did on her lunch break. Ravi had surprised her by leaving his study group on campus early to bring her queso and chips.

“Your turn,” Lou said between crunches of tortilla chips. “Who’s making out in the back of the library?”

Ravi glanced up at the gray sky. He snuggled into his winter coat and said, “I’ve got it. They’re both aliens fascinated by human culture, but their only source is teen rom-coms.”

“Good one,” Lou chuckled. She gasped suddenly and asked, “Quick, what’s the best romantic comedy of all time?”

Ravi’s eyes widened. “Oh no! That’s too much pressure. I need to consider a lot of cinematic…”

“Five...four...three…” Lou counted down with a smile.

“Crazy Rich Asians! Wait, no, The Princess Bride! Oh, wait. I pick High School Musical,” Ravi blurted out.

Lou laughed so hard she had to lean against Ravi’s shoulder.

“High School Musical?” she hiccupped.

“I panicked,” Ravi said flatly. “I told you it was too much pressure.”

* * *

It was a Thursday night when Ravi accepted a ride home from Lou. He had been staying until the library closed at 10 pm for the past few weeks, but normally when she offered, he told her he was fine with the short walk in the dark. But that Thursday night was bitterly cold.

It was warm inside Lou’s car and smelled like apples. She had a fragrance device hooked onto the vent on her console. It was right above the radio buttons. Music played softly in the background as Ravi told a story about his youngest sister’s pet giraffe.  
“The sanctuary at the zoo does a great job. Zuri visits there all of the time,” Ravi said.

“That’s awesome, Ravi,” Lou said. She drove up to the sidewalk in front of his house and parked. “This is the address, right?”

“Yep, this is me,” Ravi said. He held tighter to his backpack and reached for the door handle. “We almost forgot,” he said as he turned back to face her. “What’s tonight’s story about the kissing couple?”

“You’re right!” Lou said. Her gloved hands tightened around the steering wheel. “I can’t believe we almost forgot.”

“It’s your turn,” Ravi said.

Lou tapped her chin and leaned back in the driver’s seat. She stared out the windshield. Snow flurries melted against the glass. She could hear the melody of a love song she recognized sounding softly through the speakers.

“They’re from an off-the-grid country where kissing is a form of language,” Lou said. She smirked, “They’re really just having a long conversation.”

Ravi laughed. “Then they are both quite chatty because they do a lot of conversing.”

Lou rolled her eyes. “I know! And here I am having no conversations.”

“What are you talking about, Lou? We have conversations all the time.”

They both went quiet. The music from the speakers changed to something with more of a general message and a pop beat.

“You meant…” Ravi started.

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lou interrupted. She gave him an awkward smile. 

“Yeah, tomorrow,” Ravi replied in an equally awkward tone. “Goodnight,” he said once he was standing outside of the car.

“Goodnight,” she said as she gave him a short wave.

Ravi took a few steps into his yard and stopped. He briskly returned to the car and knocked on the passenger-side window. Lou rolled down the window.

“May I see your phone?” he asked, shivering slightly in the cold.

“Sure,” Lou said. She unplugged it from the console where it was charging and handed it to him. “Did you forget your keys or something?”

Ravi didn’t answer. He tapped on her phone for a minute and then handed it back to her.

“You good?” Lou asked with a confused look on her face.

“Yes, everything’s good,” he said. “I just thought you should have my number.”

He turned away and hurried toward his front door. He was too nervous to look back and see if she was disgusted or indifferent to him giving her his number.

* * *

It was a Monday morning when Lou’s cell phone rang. She had been helping the janitor dust off the bookshelves.

“Hello?” She answered, balancing her phone between her ear and shoulder while she shoved the duster between a wedge of books.

“Hey. How are you?”

“I’m at work, Ravi. I can’t talk on my phone.”

“I only have five minutes before my presentation and I’m nervous.”

Lou rolled her eyes but she was grinning from ear to ear. She put down the duster to get a better hold on her phone.

“Ravi, I know for a fact that you’re not ‘nervous.’ You went over that presentation like a hundred times on Friday night. I’m sure even the teens from the back of the library could recite it.”

“That reminds me. It’s my turn to tell a backstory.”

Lou leaned against the bookshelf and said, “Alright. What’s their story?”

“He’s a warlock that fell in love with a character from a book. Now he casts a spell every Friday so that the character can come to life, but she can’t exist outside this library.”

There was silence on the phone as he waited for her response.

“You win. I like that one,” Lou said.

“See! Now you know why I called.”

“And you see why I’m hanging up.”

“Rules are rules. See you tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow.”

* * *

It was Valentine’s day, so the art history and biography books were hitting the ground every ten minutes. The only break the teens took was for water at the fountain by the bathroom. They had ditched an oversized teddy bear and a box of candy on the long table across from Lou’s desk.

Lou was taking inventory in the supply room. The supply room doubled as a breakroom with a small table and two chairs, a microwave, a minifridge, and a coffee pot. Ravi sat at the table with his laptop. Lou invited him in when the sounds of smooching became too much.

“All these boxes should muffle out the sound even with the door open,” Lou had explained.

“They’re really into this holiday,” Ravi said as he edited a paper due next week. “Did you see the size of that stuffed animal?”

“How could I not,” Lou replied. “It’s like they’re flaunting their love in my face.”

“Well they certainly flaunt it in our ears every Friday,” Ravi said. “I’m tempted to sell them my car so I don’t have to deal with it anymore.”

Lou lowered her clipboard. “They’d just park it out in front of the library and make out there.”

“True,” Ravi replied. “But why are they so passionate about smooching? What’s the story today, Lou?”

Lou sat down in the chair opposite Ravi. The table was tiny, so her knees brushed against his. She drummed her nails on the clipboard and fixed her eyes on the box of steamers balancing on the laminating machine.

“Out of scenarios, Lou?” Ravi asked. His eyes were bright with laughter. “If you are, then I guess that means I win. As my prize, I want dinner. And nothing cheap. My oldest sister has taught me to have very expensive taste.”

“Not so fast, hotshot,” Lou said as she shifted her gaze to him. She narrowed her eyes and said, “I’ve got it. They both promised not to stop kissing until they’re caught by their exes--to make them jealous--but the exes never show up until after the library is closed. That’s why they have to repeat the process every week.”

“Teenage drama. Classic,” Ravi said.

“Now you owe me dinner,” Lou said. She shut his laptop and leaned forward. “I want the greasiest, cheesiest thing possible from the first cheap place that I drive by tonight.”

“The drive to my house is only like five minutes and we don’t pass anything on the way there,” Ravi said. He thought for a moment. “I can cook for you!” His enthusiasm faded quickly when he remembered what day it was. He sighed, “Sorry, no I can’t cook for you. One of my roommates kicked us all out of the house for Valentine’s day. He’s making a big dinner for his girlfriend. I was just going to hangout in the garage until I could sneak inside.”

“Cute for his girlfriend. Terrible for you,” Lou said. “But I know how to drive to more places than your house to drop you off, Ravi. And there are tons of unhealthy, cheap food options by my apartment.” She stood and picked up her clipboard. “You can hang out with me and my roommate, Xander, until your roommate lets you back into your house.”

“Really?” Ravi said hopefully as he stood beside her with his laptop tucked beneath his arm. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

Lou tilted her head to the side and asked jokingly, “So, you don’t want to buy me Valentine’s dinner? But I need to make my ex jealous.”

Ravi hummed. “I see. I suppose I’ll need to buy you dinner then. I hope they show up in time.”

Lou shrugged. “We’ll just have to repeat the process until they do.”

* * *

It was a Friday night in March. Lou was working at her desk. Ravi was at the long table across from her. He stared blankly at the screen while he waited for a program he was running to finish generating a mathematical model. His phone buzzed on the table. He raised his eyebrows at Lou when he saw that the message was from her. She didn’t look in his direction. Her eyes were focused on her monitor. Ravi read the message:

_7 times._

He sent a reply and returned to watching the screen of his laptop.

_What was seven times?_

His phone buzzed again. He looked up to see what Lou was doing. She was still staring at her computer screen. He sighed and checked the new message.

_At the water fountain. That’s how many times they said “I love you.”_

He smiled and looked up. Lou’s eyes remained focused on her monitor. He rolled his eyes and typed back hastily.

_Why won’t you look at me? Or talk to me?_

He jumped slightly at the sound of Lou’s voice when she finally spoke.

“To annoy you,” she said with a grin.

He shook his head but failed to look angry or hide his smile. He narrowed his eyes at her and said, “I’m not going to tell you why they’re kissing in the biography section.”

Lou pressed her hands together and held them up to her chin. “Please,” she said, dragging out the word. “I have to know.”

“They’re both trapped in a timeline where the same Friday happens over and over again,” Ravi explained. “And each time they confess their romantic feelings to each other in the biography section of the library.”

“Meh, time loops,” Lou said as she leaned back in her seat.

“What do you mean ‘meh’?” Ravi asked, pressing a hand to his chest in offense.

“I’m not into time loops,” Lou replied.

“Then you’re not into Taylor Swift karaoke this weekend,” Ravi said as he stood up to find a book in the non-fiction section.

Lou sat up straight in her chair and called out frantically, “I take it back, Ravi! I want karaoke!”

* * *

It was the last Friday night in April. Paper flowers were strung above the children’s section of the library. Lou and Ravi had pulled two bean bag chairs close together and relaxed amongst the colorful sea of alphabet posters and animal-themed books.

“Your turn,” Ravi said to Lou. Her face wasn’t far from his and he could see all of the things only visible when you’re close enough to smell the peppermint on someone’s breath.

“You study too much and I’m here alone so much that we’ve both gone mad and there’s actually never been a pair of teenagers making out in the back of this library,” Lou whispered.

“So, we’re both crazy?” Ravi whispered back.

“I think so.”

* * *

It was late spring when their game came to an abrupt end. 

Lou wandered out of the meeting with her supervisor in a state of shock. The city budget had been reviewed and community resources was the first amongst the cuts. She plopped down at the picnic table covered in pen carvings. Birds were chirping in the tree overhead. The second car to ever park in the lot honked at her before it sped off. She blinked down at the phone in her hand. She didn’t even remember taking it out of her pocket. She tapped at the number she wanted and held the phone to her ear.

“Lou?”

“Xander,” Lou said. Her voice wavered. 

“Lou, where are you?”

“At work.” Her voice worsened and tears rolled down her cheeks.

“I’ll be right there. Let me get someone to cover for me.”

Lou sniffled and pulled her hand through her hair. “It’s not fair, Xander! We were just getting started.”

“Lou, I don’t understand. I’m on the way. What was getting started?”

“Me and Ravi,” she said, heartbroken.

By the time Xander got to the library, Lou had washed off her face and sat at her desk working. He offered to take her home, but she wanted to finish the day. Besides, it was a Friday and she figured it would be better to talk to Ravi now than later. 

She spent that Friday acting as if everything was normal. She allowed Ravi to follow alongside her as she collected books off the shelves. She told him silly stories about her childhood on the farm and Tiffany accidentally shooting things with her arrows. She locked the library doors at 10:15 pm and let him pick out the music to play on the short car ride home. At the end of the night, she drove up to his sidewalk and parked her car.

“What’s wrong, Lou?” Ravi asked. He looked concerned. “You seem different today.”

Lou considered which approach would be best: ripe off the bandage or slowly peel it off. She could hardly look into his warm and caring eyes. Her heart hurt as it thumped against her chest. She felt a lump in her throat and a stinging in her eyes. But she inhaled deeply and refused to cry in front of him.

“The main library branch downtown is absorbing the Elme Street library. There aren’t enough visitors, so the location is being closed,” she said. Her voice was devoid of any emotion. 

Ravi blinked. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Ravi tucked his hands deeper into the pockets of his jacket. He stared outside the windshield. A springtime rain was misting the street beneath the streetlights. “Well, the downtown branch isn’t that far. The parking pass I use on campus is good for some of the lots near there.”

Lou bit her lip and sighed. “Ravi, I won’t be there.”

Ravi was silent for a moment. A lump formed in his throat. He could feel the stinging behind his eyes.

“The person in charge is transferring me to another small library in the next town over,” Lou explained. Her eyes were glossy, but she shrugged. “It’s not really my choice. But I like my job, even if it’s not going to be the same anymore.”

Ravi blinked back his tears. He struggled to speak, but managed to say, “Totally. It’s going to be great.” Logic mocked him for being so overly emotional over a woman he’d only known for a few months. He ignored it and didn’t bother wiping away the tear streaming down his face. “When’s your last day?” he asked.

She told him next Friday. It felt too soon for both of them. With nothing else to say, Lou waved him goodnight and they went their separate ways.

They both spent their weekends moping like lovelorn zombies: Sleep. Not eat. Repeat. Monday and Tuesday Ravi locked himself in his room to do the last of his studying. Wednesday and Thursday he took his finals. Lou worked from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., following the packing instructions her supervisor provided for the library and answering calls about online services. They both looked horrible and drained all week.

“I love you, Lou,” Xander had said. “But you look kinda gross.”

“Ew,” Zuri had said over a video call. “Ravi, you look disgusting.”

When Friday finally arrived, the library was not only barren of people but most of the shelves were empty too. Lou wore the purple sweater she had worn on that day when Ravi first introduced himself. She tried not to look at the entrance every five seconds and she couldn’t sit still. She dusted off the shelves. She re-taped signs on the window notifying citizens of the library’s closure. She juggled rubber-band balls that she found in the bottom drawer of her desk. She did anything that would keep herself from worrying if Ravi would visit her on her last day or not. 

He hadn’t called or text her since the night she told him the news. She hadn’t reached out to him either, afraid of embarrassing herself. She felt guilty for dumping the news on him so suddenly, but it’s not like she had been given a heads up herself.

“This is silly,” Lou said to herself as she sat on top of one of the long tables. “I’m being silly.” She tossed one of the rubber-band balls into the air. “Why am I freaking out over a guy that hardly noticed that I existed for three months?” She caught the ball with the opposite hand and tossed up another. “He’s not even that great. He’s only smart and fun to be around and laughs at my jokes.”

She dropped the rubber-band balls onto the table. They bounced and rolled onto the carpet. Her shoulders hung low. She pouted. “And I like him like catfish like water and sunflowers like sunshine.” She tossed her head back. “Ugh! I’m so into him! It’s not fair.” She hopped off the table and walked over to the front door. She stuck her head out into the sunshine and looked around for anyone approaching. No one was there.

By 8:50 p.m. she accepted that he was not going to visit. She would have to lock the doors for the last time at 10 p.m. She glanced at the entrance again only to find no one there. Even the kissing couple hadn’t been by. To her it almost didn’t seem fitting for the library to close its doors without the sound of puckering lips, nostril breathing, and the occasional book hitting the floor. 

More time ticked by. Lou walked down the aisles of shelves until she was in the back of the library, where the biographies were. There were only a few paperback books and art magazines left on the shelf. She picked one of the magazines up and flipped through its pages.

“I’m going to miss you.”

Startled, Lou dropped the magazine. Her eyes widened and she stuttered, “You’re here.”

Ravi picked up the magazine and handed it to her. “I’m late. It’s 9:15.”

“There’s no set time for anyone to visit the library,” Lou said, regaining her voice. She turned away from him and unstacked some books as a distraction. “The building is open until ten.”

“I’m late because I’m going to miss you,” Ravi said, looking down at the floor. “I didn’t want to say goodbye.”

Lou’s heart soared. She tried to suppress her smile, but it didn’t work. She was glad her back was still facing him. “In forty-five more minutes you wouldn’t have had the chance to,” she said in a tone devoid of its usual cheeriness. She restacked the books.

Ravi could feel himself on the verge of tears for the hundredth time that day. He knew it was irrational to be so upset. The next town over was only an hour away. And in addition to that, he would be graduating college next year and he had no idea where he wanted to move next. He told himself that hanging out with Lou had been nice, but that didn’t mean there would be more than that. She had a life and he had a life before each other. But it still hurt him that the library was closing and the library clerk was leaving.

“The clock over your desk is an analog clock,” he said. “We could wind it back to 7 p.m.”

Lou laughed lightly and looked at him over her shoulder. “Time doesn’t work that way,” she said with a small smile.

“Unfortunately,” he said.

“Unfortunately,” she repeated.

He held up the small box he had been holding in his hand. It was wrapped in a purple bow.

“I got you a present,” he said with a smile. “I hope you know I’m expecting a gift as well.”

Lou turned to face him and chuckled. “I found a bag of pretzels wedged between the cookbooks on row three. You’re welcome.”

Ravi rolled his eyes playfully and handed her the box. She opened it to reveal a pair of earplugs. Lou laughed so hard that it was contagious and their laughter filled the library. She leaned against the back shelf and wiped at the tears in the corners of her eyes.

“Do you think you’ll need those earplugs at the next library?” Ravi asked. He leaned back against the shelf too so that he was beside her, shoulder to shoulder.

“It’s supposed to be much busier than here, so probably not enough empty corners for making out,” Lou replied. “But, hey, you never know.”

Ravi looked around as if he expected the kissing couple to appear at any moment. “Where are those two anyway?”

Lou shrugged. “They didn’t show up.”

Ravi gasped. “You don’t say! I thought you’d have to drag them out of here kicking and screaming.”

Lou chuckled, looking down at the carpet. “I can’t say that I’ll miss them.” She took a deep breath and slowly lifted her eyes to meet his own. “But I’ll miss you,” she said above a whisper.

He gulped and was suddenly more aware of her shoulder against his own. “I already told you that,” he said with his volume matching hers.

“You weren’t looking me in the eye though,” she said. It was breathy and she was leaning closer to him.

Alarm bells were sounding off in his head. He could feel the weight of the next few moments. Something grander than himself was pulling him forward and plotting out the course of his future. It felt like everything depended on those next few moments.

“It feels weird not hearing all that stumbling. Books falling off the shelves,” he said. 

Lou rested her hand on his shoulder and kept her gaze locked on him as she stepped closer.

“It feels wrong that no one is kissing in the biography section of the library,” he said.

“We’re in the biography section of the library,” she replied.

He brushed his thumb over her cheek. “Should we have a conversation?”

And for the next half hour they made out in the back of the library, stumbling and knocking what was left of the books off the shelves.


	7. science vs art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lou the art teacher and Ravi the science teacher battle over who is the best teacher at Kikiwaka Elementary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I do not own Bunk'd. This collection of unrelated oneshots was inspired by OTP prompts found on tumblr.

Mid-morning, Lou strode confidently into the teacher’s lounge, holding up her prized gold ribbon for the other teachers to admire. She made a point to stand in front of the table where Ravi Ross, the math and science teacher, was seated with his lunch. He was already frowning at her and that made her smile with even more haughtiness. 

“Here it is, folks, the Smith Foundation Distinguished Award for Teaching of the Arts,” Lou announced. “Awarded to,” she made a show of reading the name written on the ribbon, “Art Teacher, Lou Hockhauser.”

Everyone cheered, but Lou focused her attention on Ravi. He reluctantly clapped, but wouldn’t make eye contact with her.

“Congratulations, Lou!” cheered Emma Ross, the social studies teacher. She was seated beside her brother, Ravi, and her boyfriend, Xander, the music teacher.

Lou could tell Ravi was dying to say something to undercut her win. His tells were so obvious to her: he wouldn’t make eye contact; he drummed his fingers on the table; he folded his lips. She knew that if she stopped talking now, he wouldn’t say anything about it, and she could pour a cup of coffee without any arguing. She didn’t want that, though.

“This wasn’t just a win for me,” Lou said, pressing the ribbon to her heart, “your much beloved arts teacher, but a win that I share with Kikiwaka Elementary. Much like my many other wins.” 

“Oh, please,” Ravi scoffed and stood.

His gaze was on her now and she knew she had started a fight. She tried not to smirk.

“I won the Science Foundation’s Excellence in Teaching Math and Science Award last month!” Ravi exclaimed.

“Here we go again,” Hazel, the gym teacher, said by the coffee maker. “I’m out.” 

“Oh, did you win an award, Mr. Ross?” Lou asked, feigning innocence. “I had no idea.”

“You know that I did. And it’s an even more prestigious win that I share with Kikiwaka Elementary. More so than that schoolyard ribbon,” Ravi said with the wave of his hand.

“If you want to talk about prestige, Mr. Ross,” Lou said with an attitude, “Let’s talk about the regional Creative Collaborative Works competition, that my class has won for the third year in a row.”

“Regional? Ha! Ms. Hockhauser, my students have won the statewide Competitive Classrooms Robotics Championship for the past two years!”

Xander leaned over and whispered to Emma, “Is it me, or have they gotten worse over this year?”

Ravi, during his ranting, had moved around the table to stand in front of Lou. Emma gave her brother and Lou both annoyed looks. 

“Every. Single. Day with these two,” Emma muttered.

“Oh, and what exactly did Kikiwaka Elementary get for that robotics thing? Oh, right, a plaque. It looks cute behind the National Arts Educator for Primary Education award in the trophy case out front. You know, the one with my name on it,” Lou said with a smirk.

“Well, I won the Rosa Grant for science,” Ravi argued. “That was two thousand dollars for our school.”

“And I won the Fredericks Grant for art! Two thousand and fifty dollars for our school.”

“Gah, will you two go make out in the janitor’s closet already!” Emma shouted. “You’re driving us all crazy!”

The other four teachers in the breakroom nodded and murmured their agreement. Lou and Ravi didn’t notice. They were too busy glaring at each other and thinking of the next comeback.

“I can’t help it if Hockhauser won’t admit that I’m the superior teacher,” Ravi said, ignoring Emma’s outburst.

“Not on your life, Ross,” Lou sneered. “I say we have one final winner-take-all competition. Your best student against my best student. The teacher who wins is irrefutably the best, once and for all.”

“This is so stupid,” Emma murmured as she leaned her forehead against her boyfriend’s shoulder. “Tell me when it’s over.”

Lou could see the gears turning in Ravi’s head. She knew he’d accept the challenge. He had been competing with her for the past three years. She was sure that he couldn’t resist her. That thought made her face heat up. She amended it: she was sure that he couldn’t resist competing with her. 

“You’re on,” Ravi said. “Name the competition.”

“Ooo! Do riddles,” Xander said enthusiastically from his front row seat to the argument.

“Don’t encourage them,” Emma said.

“Riddle competition it is,” Ravi said, crossing his arms and taking a step forward to her. “After school.”

She took a step forward as well. She could smell the orange he had had for lunch. “My classroom,” she said.

“Very well,” he said. His glare softened for a moment, but then he turned away and returned to his seat at the table.

Lou walked out the teacher’s lounge with her award.

* * *

Ravi unpacked a box of science kits at his desk. It was his planning period, so his science classroom was empty of students for the next fifteen minutes. He looked up when he heard Xander knock on the doorframe. 

“Need help with anything, Xander?” Ravi asked as the music teacher sat on top of one of the front row desks.

“Not really,” Xander answered. He had his guitar in his hands. He liked to show up at recess sometimes during his planning period and play songs for the kids. He decided to stop by Ravi’s classroom on the way back to his own today. He asked casually, “Are you really doing that competition thing with, Lou?” 

“Of course,” Ravi said. He piled a few kits into his arms and went to place them on each desk. He added, “It’s time to prove who’s the best teacher.”

“That’s not what being a teacher is about, winning or losing.” Xander put down his guitar and picked some kits up from Ravi’s desk to help set them out. “It’s about the experience that the students have, the journey.”

Ravi paused to give Xander an incredulous look. He said, “Can you not start with that mumbo jumbo.”

“I don’t get why you two are so competitive,” Xander said with a shrug. “I mean, Lou’s always been competitive. Way before this job. But with you it seems… different.”

Ravi froze. He stared at Xander for a moment and then asked as casually as he could muster, “Different how?” 

From the look on Xander’s face, Ravi knew that his voice had betrayed him. He had not sounded casual at all.

“What was that?” Xander asked. He placed the last of the kits on a desk and leaned against it.

“What was what?” Ravi asked with his eyes wide.

“That tone? ‘Different how?’ You sounded curious.”

Ravi hated the knowing look Xander was giving him. He knew he had to come up with an excuse. He walked back to his desk and flipped through his planner.

“I am curious,” Ravi said, keeping his eyes down. “About what you meant by Lou seemed different… with me. I mean, as anyone would be curious about a vague statement such as that one.”

“No, you sounded curious curious,” Xander said with a teasing smile.

Ravi thought about confessing. He was curious curious about Lou. If her best friend thought she was treating him differently, he wanted to know if the difference meant anything positive. He knew it was delusional to think that it’d mean anything positive, being as all they did was argue all the time it seemed. But he wanted to know. And the only reason he argued with her so much was because he was too chicken to try anything else, including normal conversations about the weather or how much he liked the way she decorated her classroom.

He didn’t confess to wanting to know more about the difference. Instead he looked up and said, “Goodness, Xander, you sound like one of the school children.”

“Uh huh,” Xander said. He wouldn’t let Ravi deflect from the conversation. “Is Emma, right? Do you like like Lou?”

“If you insist on using the vocabulary of an elementary-aged child, then please excuse me while I prepare for my lesson,” Ravi huffed.

“Dude, we work at an elementary school. My vocabulary is fine. And don’t dodge the question. Is this competition your way of flirting?”

“Flirting?” Ravi asked, his voice going up an octave. His face heated. “No. Don’t be ridiculous, Xander. Shouldn’t you be off preparing for your students?”

Xander pushed away from the desk and went to stand by the doorframe. He said coolly, “You know, Lou has asked me if you were seeing anyone before.”

Ravi felt time stop. His brain processed Xander’s words. “She has,” he stuttered. He recovered and added, “Surely for teacher gossip and not out of any particular interest, I’m sure.” He knew he didn’t want that to be true. He wanted it to be out of interest.

“And she was checking you out at the teacher versus teacher dodgeball game last month,” Xander added. He held back a laugh when he saw his friend’s eyes widen.

“She was not,” Ravi said in disbelief.

“I’ve known her since I was a kid, Ravi. I know when Lou’s checking someone out.”

“But I lost horribly in that game. I was always the first player struck with a dodgeball.”

“You must’ve looked good doing it,” Xander said. “Cause she was watching you like Hazel watches me at the car washing fundraisers.”

“No,” Ravi gasped. “Don’t be ridiculous.” 

He could feel his heart racing at the thought of Lou admiring his looks. He waited for Xander to tell him he was joking, but the music teacher didn’t say anything else. He wanted to entertain the thought that Lou could be interested in him, but he knew it would only lead to heartache. He never let his thoughts linger on her too long because he felt any attempt would be futile.

“Ms. Hockhauser and I are rivals. She has no… romantic interest in me. And we will have our riddle competition after school,” Ravi said decidedly.

“Alright, if you say so,” Xander replied. He gave Ravi a small wave before leaving the science classroom.

* * *

Lou and Emma stood in the cafeteria, monitoring the students during lunch period. The room was filled with chatter and the smell of rectangular pizzas with tiny pepperonis. 

“You know the riddle competition is stupid, right,” Emma said to Lou.

A student walked up to Lou and asked for help opening his milk carton. She opened it and handed it back with a smile.

“No, it’s not,” Lou replied to Emma. “It’s the final epic battle to prove once and for all that I’m a better teacher than your brother.”

“And why do you need to battle Ravi to prove that?”

“Because he’s coming after my crown!”

“O.M.G, Lou,” Emma said as she rolled her eyes. “You sound like one of the kids.”

“Do not,” Lou responded. She pouted and crossed her arms.

“Seriously?” Emma said with her eyebrow raised.

Lou uncrossed her arms and sighed, “Okay, maybe a little… But why are you bringing up the competition? Are you going to ask me to spare your brother from the humiliation of losing? Cause the answers nope.”

Emma took her cell phone out of the pocket of her fashionable sweater. She pulled up a picture and showed it to Lou.

“I wanted to show you this,” Emma said.   
Lou felt like fireworks were exploding inside of her. She couldn’t fight the dopey look on her face or the pounding of her heart against her chest. She wanted to declare it the sweetest picture she had ever seen.

Instead she accused her friend and said, “You photoshopped this.”

“I so did not,” Emma said smugly. “This is photo evidence. Four months ago, the big field trip to the museum, you fell asleep on Ravi’s shoulder.”

Lou remembered. She had been up the night before finishing her entry for the Lewis Grant for art supplies and cultural trips. Her sleepy brain had called Ravi to pick her up and take her to the school. She hadn’t wanted to drive because sleep deprivation and vehicles didn’t mix. He had picked her up with no questions asked. They had arrived at the school early, along with the other teachers, to wait on the busses for the big field trip to the museum. She had followed him onto the bus and plopped down beside him. Before she had known it, she fell asleep on his shoulder.

“I was tired. I could’ve fallen asleep on anyone,” Lou reasoned.

“Fine. But tell me, Ms. Hockhauser, why didn’t you call me to bring you to school? Or Xander?” Emma asked. Dramatically, she held her hand up to her ear and leaned closer to Lou. “No answer?”

Lou didn’t have an answer she could give Emma without giving away too much. She knew why she had called Ravi and not either of her friends from work. She wanted to see him. Sleepy Lou was much bolder than Caffeinated Lou, so when she omitted the coffee before the field trip, she was powerless to Sleepy Lou’s whims.

“What does this have to do with Ravi losing once and for all to me, the winner?” Lou said, feigning nonchalance. 

Emma shook her head. “Can’t you see that all these awards and competing are the misdirection of your romantic tension because you’ve both left it with nowhere else to go? If you two would just stop being stubborn, and ask each other on a date, we could all get on with our lives.”

Lou usually loved these moments when her friend was insightful. She looked up to Emma, even though they were the same age. But right now she wanted to fling applesauce at her and run away like a ten-year old. Lou knew there was romantic tension, but she didn’t know how much of it was one-sided. There would be times when she felt like they were flirting, but there would be others when she felt like he genuinely couldn’t stand her. 

“You’re talking nonsense,” Lou said. She looked around until she spotted an excuse on the other side of the cafeteria. “Excuse me while I stop Todd from making anymore booger necklaces.”

* * *

The fifth graders giggled and goofed around at their desks in the art classroom. Lou smiled at her students. For the most part, they all enjoyed art and had good behavior. She would be happy to have any one of them compete on behalf of her reputation as best teacher, but she decided to go with her most talented students.

“Okay, everyone, settle down,” Lou addressed the class.

The kids settled down and gave her their attention.

“Is everyone ready for a new art lesson?” she asked cheerfully.

There were a few “Yes, Ms. Hockhauser,” responses, a whoop from some students up front, and a laugh from the back of the room.

“Welp, change of plans, kiddos. We’re doing a free draw today. So, work on whatever drawing you want and we’ll get back to the usual on Monday.”

Only three of the students grumbled their disappointment. Everyone else went to work grabbing their sketch pads from the cabinets and getting to drawing.

“Zuri. Jorge, please come to my desk,” Lou said, eyeing the two students, as she walked back to her desk. She sat down and motioned to the two purple chairs near her desk. The kids brought them over to sit.

“Are we in trouble?” Jorge asked, gripping his sketch pad.

“If we are, then Jorge did it,” Zuri said.

“No one’s in trouble,” Lou replied, holding in a laugh. “You two are very talented artists. I’m really proud of the work you’ve done this year.”

“Cool,” Zuri said happily. 

“Nice,” Jorge replied. He held his hand up for a high-five with Zuri. She high-fived him and laughed.

“Now,” Lou asked, “which one of you is good at riddles?”

“I love riddles!” exclaimed Jorge. “My favorite author, Stephanie McQueen, has riddles in her books all the time.”

“No thanks,” Zuri said. She picked up some colorful paper clips on Lou’s desk.

“Jorge it is,” Lou said with a nod. She lifted the packet of papers she had printed off during her planning period and handed them to him. “I need you to study this. You’re staying after school today. I’ll let your mom now.”

“I thought I wasn’t in trouble,” Jorge frowned. His eyes were big and watery.

“No, those are answers to riddles,” Lou said reassuringly. “I’m having a competition and I need you to beat the kid from Mr. Ross’s class.”

“Oh!” Jorge said. His eyes were instantly cheerful again. “Cool!” He went back to his desk with the packet and began studying.

Zuri remained at Lou’s desk. She bent the paper clips into shapes and asked, “Hey, Ms. Hockhauser, can I ask you something?”

Lou loved spending time with her students. She perked up and leaned forward in attention. “Sure, Zuri,” she said.

“I’ve got a crush on this boy in Ms. Swearington’s class,” Zuri said. She sprinkled the paper clips onto Lou’s desk. They were all shaped like hearts. “He’s really cool.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet, Zuri,” Lou cooed.

“Don’t go getting all mushy on me,” Zuri said, picking up one of Lou’s pencils and twirling it. She continued, “I’m just wondering, if I don’t go for it, what’s it like to be old and alone, like you?”

“What?” Lou sputtered. She sat up straight. “I’m not old! I’m twenty-eight.”

“I’m in fifth grade. I’m ten. That’s old to me. And I know you aren’t married because you’re not wearing a ring and you never mention a boyfriend.”

“I’m your teacher, Zuri,” Lou said, flustered. “My personal life is none of your business.”

Lou didn’t normally use the “I’m your teacher” move, but she was being called out by a fifth grader. 

“I know the social studies teacher is dating the music teacher,” Zuri said nonchalantly. 

“That’s because the social studies teacher is your sister,” Lou replied.

“Are you going to tell me what it's like to be old and alone or not,” Zuri said in a bored tone. “I already asked Ravi and he just gets this sad look on his face whenever I ask him.”

“He does?” Lou asked, softer than she meant to. She snapped out of it and said, “Zuri, don’t be silly. Ravi’s not old either. He’s got plenty of time to find…” 

She was going to say “someone,” but at the last second, she decided that she didn’t want to. He had been single for a while, according to Xander, and the thought of his status changing made her uncomfortable. She knew if she thought too hard about why she was uncomfortable with him no longer being available, she’d have to be honest with herself about her non-work-related feelings. She realized Zuri was looking at her blankly.

“Why am I even talking about this with you,” Lou said quickly. “Your brother’s personal life is his, Zuri.”

“He’s twenty-six. He’ll practically be in an old folks home soon,” Zuri said, sticking the pencil back into the sparkly holder on the desk. “And the only woman he ever talks about is you.”

“Me?” Lou said, an octave higher than she intended. She cleared her throat and relaxed her shoulders. “What about… me?”

“He’s always asking me questions like, ‘Did Ms. Hockhauser hear the announcements today when I won the nerd award’. Or ‘Did Ms. Hockhauser mention the dumb muffins I made for the teachers’ lounge today. Did she like them?’ Blah blah blah. ‘Does she have a boyfriend’,” Zuri said in a mocking tone.

Lou blinked. She could feel the fireworks again. He wanted to know if she had a boyfriend. Why did he want to know that? 

“Never mind, Ms. Hockhauser. I’m just gonna draw my crush a picture and tell him how I feel at recess. If he doesn’t like me, then at least I went for it,” Zuri said as she stood up. “Adults move too slow on this stuff anyway.”

As she watched Zuri skip off to her desk, Lou wondered why she herself wasn’t smarter than a fifth grader.

* * *

Ravi had to use more energy than normal to focus on teaching. His mind wanted to wander and mull over what Xander had said earlier, but he refused to let it. Teaching was his primary objective, followed by the riddle competition in which he would win all bragging rights. During his lunch duty, he approached one of his students to recruit her.

“Hello, Tiffany,” Ravi greeted the student. He noticed the child seated beside her. “And hello, Jorge.”

“Hey, Mr. Ross,” Jorge spoke. He stood up and grabbed his lunchbox. “Can I be excused? My teacher wants me to study.”

“You? Study?” Tiffany said in disbelief as she looked up at her friend.

“Beautiful people can be smart too, Tiffany,” Jorge said. He said goodbye to Ravi and went to put away his tray.

Ravi chuckled and took the empty seat. He said, “Tiffany, you are the best and brightest student in my class.”

“Facts,” Tiffany said, munching on her sandwich.

The girl reminded him so much of himself that he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Would you mind staying after school today for a riddle competition? I can let your mother know,” Ravi said.

“Sweet!” Tiffany said as her eyes lit up. “Who do I get to defeat?”

“I’m not sure,” Ravi replied. “Ms. Hockhauser is supposed to pick her best student.”

Tiffany snorted. “The art teacher? Oh, this will be a breeze.” 

“Great,” Ravi said, delighted by her enthusiasm. He got ready to stand, but Tiffany tugged the sleeve of his blazer.

“Mr. Ross, wait,” she said. She scanned the cafeteria nervously before returning her gaze to him. She asked, “Can I ask you for some advice?”

“Sure,” Ravi said, sitting back down. He loved teaching and he loved all of his students. He was always happy to listen or help out the kids at the school. He said, “Go for it.”

“So, there’s this boy that is kind of annoying and gross,” Tiffany started. She tore at the crust around her sandwich as she spoke. “But sometimes… I don’t feel like he’s annoying and gross. I feel like he’s… okay. Does that mean I like him?”

Ravi felt awkward. He had hoped for something either academic or encouragement related.

“Have you tried talking to the social studies teacher, Tiffany. She’s probably much better at things of this nature.”

“Oh… okay,” Tiffany replied, dejected.

Ravi felt ashamed. Just because he was a coward when it came to matters of the heart, didn’t mean he had to let his students down. He knew he couldn’t leave the kid like this.

“Tiffany, do you think you like this boy?” Ravi asked. 

“I don’t know,” Tiffany said. “Most of the time I think he’s disgusting. But sometimes I don’t. Is that normal, Mr. Ross?”

“I think it’s very normal, Tiffany.”

“So, I’m not a weirdo?” she asked, looking at him with hopeful eyes.

“Not at all,” he said with a smile. “And don’t stress over this. You’re in the fifth grade. You’ve got plenty of time to figure this sort of thing out. Just enjoy having a friend that you think is okay.”

“Thanks, Mr. Ross,” Tiffany said. She took a bite out of her sandwich and said between munches, “You’re old, so you probably have no problem knowing when you like someone.”

Ravi sighed. He knew when he liked someone. His problem was just doing something about it.

* * *

Both Lou and Ravi sat in their individual classrooms, watching the clock like anxious children. When the end-of-day bell rang, they rushed their students to the buses and returned to the hallway in front of the art classroom as soon as the after-school programs bell rang.

“So, are you ready to lose, Mr. Ross?” Lou asked with a smug look as she stood several feet away from Ravi.

“I was going to ask you the same question, Ms. Hockhauser,” Ravi responded. He made a bird call and Tiffany walked out of his science classroom to stand beside him.

“I told you not to caw, Mr. Ross,” Tiffany said.

“It gives it a dramatic effect,” Ravi replied, not looking away from Lou. His student rolled her eyes.

“Come on out, champion,” Lou said with her hands cupped around her mouth. Jorge danced out the art classroom while Lou made beatboxing sounds.

“Oh my gosh,” Tiffany mumbled, covering her face with her hands.

When Jorge ended his dance in the middle of the hall, he noticed Tiffany. He looked up at Lou with a panicked expression.

“I can’t compete against Tiffany!” He exclaimed.

“Ha! Your best student is already terrified. You will win easily, Tiffany,” Ravi boasted.

Tiffany looked slightly nervous and said, “I don’t know, Mr. Ross. Jorge’s really good at riddles.” She added, “But I’m good too!”

“Ms. Hockhauser, I don’t want to beat Tiffany at a riddle match,” Jorge whined at his teacher. “She’s my girlfriend!”

“Oh,” Lou said in surprise. She looked up at the young student beside Ravi, who looked like she was about to be hit by a truck.

“No, I’m not!” Tiffany argued. “You’re so gross! And disgusting. And gross.”

Jorge clicked his tongue and said, “Uh huh, I talked to my Aunt Rosa and she said all the evidence is there.” He held up his hand and counted on his fingers. “We eat lunch together every day. We sit beside each on the bus home. And you always carry my books. That’s three things!”

“I carry your books because you’re always leaving them everywhere! Your social studies book was under the water fountain today.”

“See! You’re a great girlfriend,” Jorge said with a thumbs up.

Tiffany turned to Ravi and said, “What did you get me into?”

Ravi gave her an apologetic look and said to the children, “Look, kiddos. Let’s just focus on the riddle competition.”

“Jorge, I’ll give you a candy bar if you do the riddle competition,” Lou said, bending down to eye level with him. “And it’s one of those big ones that they charge you extra for at the gas station.”

“Deal!” Jorge said excitedly and ran into the art classroom.

“Do I get a candy bar?” Tiffany asked Ravi.

“I thought you wanted to do the competition strictly to defeat an opponent,” Ravi said. 

Tiffany crossed her arms and said, “Candy bar or no deal.”

“Fine, fine. Just go into the classroom,” Ravi said as he shooed her into Lou’s art classroom.

He had secretly admired Lou’s classroom. It was always bright and colorful, like the art teacher. He thought about the many times he had walked by the classroom after the end-of-day bell rang, wanting to walk in and ask about her day. He never did. As he walked in now, he saw that she had set up two desks like game show podiums. 

“Nice touch, Ms. Hockhauser,” he said to Lou as he nodded toward the desks.

“Uh, thanks,” she replied. She faced the students. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

They agreed that the score would go up to ten, and the first student to gain ten points would win. Each riddle was worth one point. Ravi soon found that Tiffany had been correct: Jorge was excellent at riddles. The final score was three to ten, with Jorge earning the ten points, of course.

“Yay!” Jorge cheered once declared the winner. 

Lou clapped her hands while he danced around the classroom. He ran up to his art teacher, gave her a hug, and then held his hand out for his candy bar. Lou went to her purse and gave him his prize with a smile.

“There you go, champion,” Lou said to Jorge.

During Jorge’s victory dance, Tiffany pouted with her arms crossed. She turned to Ravi and asked, “Where’s my candy bar?”

Ravi patted the pocket of his blazer even though he knew he had no candy bars. He gave her a nervous laugh. She glared at him.

“I suppose I never actually had a candy bar on my person,” Ravi said. He sighed and apologized, “I’m sorry, Tiffany. I shouldn’t have lied.”

“Whatever,” Tiffany said as she uncrossed her arms. “I forgive you; I guess.”

Jorge broke his candy bar in half and offered it to his friend. He said, “Here you go, Tiff. And look, it has caramel!”

“But… I didn’t win. You won,” Tiffany said as she took the treat and looked at him with wide eyes. “Why would you share with me?”

“I won this time, but you could win next time. Hey, we could play that game with the horsey and the little castle tower,” Jorge said.

“That’s chess, Jorge,” Tiffany said flatly. “And you don’t know how to play.”

“Yeah,” Jorge shrugged, “So you’d win. Come on, let’s wait outside together for our moms to pick us up.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder and picked up Tiffany’s too. “I’ll carry your books this time.”

“Fine,” Tiffany said as she followed him out the door. “But you’re still not my boyfriend.”

“Could I be one day?” he asked, voice full of hope.

“Just enjoy having a friend that thinks you’re okay,” Tiffany said.

Lou and Ravi watched the two children walk out of the art classroom. Lou began moving the desks back in place.

“Alright,” Ravi said as he grabbed one of the desks to put back. “Let me have it. Go on, gloat.”

Lou sighed and walked over to her desk. She plopped down in her chair. “Didn’t you just see that,” she said as she waved her hand in the direction of the classroom door. “We’re worse than children.”

“They did act more maturely than we ever have when it comes to competition,” Ravi said. He walked over and leaned against the opposite end of her desk.

“What’s wrong with us, Ravi?” Lou asked as she stood. She walked around the desk to be beside him and mimicked his posture. “Why can’t we act like normal teachers that work at the same school?”

“We’ve been competing for so long, that I don’t even remember how we started our rivalry,” he replied.

“Me either,” Lou said. “It’s like I come to work, get on your nerves, and go home.”

From the corner of her eye, Lou watched the man beside her. There had been so many times when he’d walked by her classroom after the end-of-day bell that she’d wanted to stop him and ask him how his day was. She finally had him in the art classroom and she didn’t want the opportunity wasted on a silly riddle competition. She thought about what Zuri said earlier, and she didn’t want to be a slow-moving adult.

“I don’t want to compete with you anymore, Ravi,” Lou said.

He looked up at her in surprise. He said, “You called me Ravi. You never call me Ravi.”

Lou smiled, “That’s your name, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “It sounds nice when you say it.”

“It’s a nice sounding name,” Lou said with a smile.

“So is Lou,” he said.

“And that’s my name,” Lou joked. “We’re finally getting somewhere.”

Ravi chuckled and said, “We’re starting over.”

“I’d like that,” Lou said. “Honestly, there’s got to be more productive things we could do than argue.”

“Yeah! We could start a book club. Or an art club,” he said, waving his hand around the classroom. “You have an amazing classroom. I’ve always admired it.”

“Aw-shucks, thanks, Ravi,” she said, shifting closer to him.

“You’re welcome, Lou,” he said sweetly as he shifted closer to her.

Emma walked into the classroom. She had her tote and purse, ready to leave the school for the weekend.

“Huh, I thought it’d be a bloodbath in here,” Emma said. “I don’t see any mentally scarred students crying under the desk.”

“We’ve decided to put our childish feud behind us,” Ravi said.

“Yeah, we were being stupid,” Lou said. 

“I’ve only said that the entire time, but whateves,” Emma said as she sat on top of one of the desks. “Now that the feud is over. What are your plans tonight, Lou?”

“I don’t know what my plans are now,” Lou shrugged. She looked embarrassed as she said, “Usually after we have one of these fights, I go kickboxing if it’s a weekday, Monday through Thursday. If it’s Friday, I do laser tag. To let out my anger.”

“That’s why you’re so strong,” Emma muttered. “You’ve got to be kickboxing every night, at the rate you two squabble.”

“Huh, I perform slam poetry at the bookstore near my house,” Ravi said to Lou. “All angry poems about our rivalry.”

“I’ve heard some of them, unfortunately,” Emma said in a bored tone. “I’d say they’re more passionate than angry.”

“Passionate?” Lou asked, breathier than she had intended.

“She meant spirited,” Ravi amended with his wide eyes.

“No, I meant passionate,” Emma said in monotone.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be,” Ravi said through his teeth to his sister.

Emma hopped off the desk and said, “You two are so in love it’s ridiculous… Ravi, take the woman out on a date.”

“I…” Ravi tried to object.

“Goodbye,” Emma said as she walked toward the door. “I expect a really cute story about your date when we all get back Monday morning.”

Emma exited the room, leaving Lou and Ravi in silence. They were still side by side, leaning against the desk and staring at the painted pictures on the wall across from them. Both were too awkward to make eye contact with each other. They could feel the weight of Emma’s words as they lingered in the classroom.

“I don’t get why she thinks we have a thing for each other,” Lou said finally. She let out a nervous chuckle and looked over at him.

“Yeah… that’s… You know,” Ravi replied. He looked at her and held her gaze. “I mean, I don’t think about you all the time,” he said. “I think about other things too…”

“Me too,” Lou replied. “I think about you. And I think about… food.”

“Food is good,” Ravi nodded. “I like food.”

“I like it, too. And it is good.”

They were both silent for a moment. Gazing into each other’s eyes. Each anticipating the other’s next words. 

“Would you want to… maybe get some food. Together?”

Lou blinked. She couldn’t help but ask, “Are you asking me out on a date, Ravi?”

She held her breath as she waited for his answer. Her heart was beating a million miles a minute as she waited for him to either make this the best Friday ever or the most humiliating conversation she’d ever had in the art classroom.

“I know that I’m probably not your type. And honestly, I’ve probably gotten on your nerves so much that you hate me,” Ravi said. “But if you do think there’s something between…”

“I do,” Lou said earnestly. She exhaled. “I mean... if you’re asking me out, I’d really like to say yes.”

With his eyes bright, he smiled at her. “Would you like to go on a date with me? Have dinner?”

“Yes,” Lou smiled. “I would.”


	8. Five Firsts Plus One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First time asking her on a date. First time telling someone she's you're girlfriend. First time kissing her. First time she's the first person you want to tell things to. First time she tells someone else about her feelings for you. First time she's in love with you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I do not own Bunk'd. This collection of unrelated oneshots was inspired by OTP prompts found on tumblr.

Griff played another popular, upbeat song on the turntables as the first dance of the summer was on at Camp Kikiwaka. Multicolored lights were strung above the crowded dance floor. There was lots of chuckling, cheering, and chattering on the great lawn. Ravi stood at a table near the back of all the commotion. He watched everyone having fun and bobbed his head to the music.

“How’s it going, Casanova?” Lou greeted Ravi.

He felt happier as soon as she walked over to him. He had always liked being around Lou, but this summer was different. From their first day back at camp, he had gone out of his way to help her anytime she needed it, made sure there was always dessert left for her when she got stuck helping a camper out during dinner, and laminated her schedules for her. She didn’t seem to mind the attention, so he was happy to provide her with plenty of it. 

“About the same as every dance at camp. I’ve asked a few ladies to dance and all have declined,” Ravi said. “But most importantly, my favorite dance partner of the night has finally arrived.”

“Aren’t I the only one who ever dances with you at these things?” Lou joked.

He laughed along with her. He had decided a while ago that he liked her laugh. There was a lot he had decided that he liked about her. Under the moonlight and party lights, he tried not to check her out. He failed miserably. He thought she looked beautiful in her dress and with her hair done nicely, but he didn’t plan on admitting that to her.

“Correct. But you’re still my favorite,” Ravi replied to her joke.

“I’m honored,” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder. “But I didn’t come over here to dance.”

He felt his heart sink. Yes, he had asked other ladies to dance with him that night, but it was only to pass time. He knew Lou had asked him to dance at every dance since he had begun attending camp. This summer, he had anticipated it as much as becoming a counselor. They never slow danced, but he didn’t care. He always enjoyed dancing with her. He knew he would have enjoyed it even more this year, but it looked like his plans were changing.

“Oh, did you need help with something?” he asked, hoping that he had successfully masked the disappointment in his voice.

“I wanted to show you something actually,” she said.

For the first time, he noticed the flashlight in her hand. He replied, “Oh, okay. Lead the way.”

He followed her into the forest. They weren’t far from the dance. He could still hear the party music, but he couldn’t see the decorations or lights anymore. Lou had only brought one flashlight, so he stayed close to her as they walked through the night, letting his shoulder brush against hers whenever he had the chance.

“Here it is,” Lou said in an excited tone.

“Wow,” he gasped. “You did all of this?”

In front of him, was a treehouse built amongst the thick branches of a girthy tree. String lights were strung all over the tree and the treehouse, lighting it up against the night forest.

“I did,” she said. “Guess I’ve come a long way since that jungle gym we tried to build for Bunny cabin.”

“I’ll say,” he said, still in awe. “Why didn’t you let me help you?”

Lou shrugged and said, “I wanted to surprise you. And trust me, that was difficult with you always around now.”

He kept the hurt out of his voice as he asked, “Around too much?”

She bunched her eyebrows together and shook her head. She said, “No way! You’ve been the best, Ravi. I don’t know what’s gotten into you this summer, but I’m here for it.”

He knew he’d say something stupid if he continued standing so close to her under the stars, so he asked instead, “Shall we climb up?”

“Sure,” she replied, gesturing for him to climb up the ledges fixed to the tree trunk first.

Once they were inside the treehouse, Ravi looked around and admired her work. He soon joined her by the railing facing the camp.

“The lights are a nice touch,” he said, poking one of the strings of lights with his finger.

“Yeah, they look much better at night. During the day when I put them up, not so much,” Lou joked. She gasped and pointed out the treehouse. “And look there, fireflies!”

“It’s beautiful, Lou,” Ravi said. He looked out toward the dance. He could see the crowd moving to the music. “Great view. The kids will love it,” he said. “You did a wonderful job, Lou.”

“Thank you, Ravi. And you’ll be happy to know that I watched a lot of instructional videos and read a building guide,” Lou confessed.

He turned to her and grinned. He said, “Natural skill combined with well-researched knowledge is always a recipe for success.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lou said, rolling her eyes teasingly.

They leaned against the railing and watched the dance below. They could hear the slow rhythm of a love song playing. Ravi looked over at Lou. Lights and fireflies shone around her, making him smile. A boldness overtook him and he wanted to tell her she was beautiful and talented and that he waited all night to dance with her and she was the only person there that he wanted to dance with.

“I’m really glad we’re friends,” he said sincerely.

Lou blinked. She was surprised by his sudden change in topic. She gave him an easy smile and nudged his shoulder with her own. She said, “Me too, Ravi.”

“Would you want to dance with me?” he asked.

She looked at him wordlessly. Moonlight and fireflies shone around him, making butterflies flutter in her stomach.

“I know you always do. But you usually ask me… This time… I’d like to ask you,” he said. He took a step back and held out his hand to her. 

“But you never ask me,” Lou said, looking him in the eye and not reaching out for his hand.

“I ask everyone else because it doesn’t really matter if they say no,” Ravi answered honestly. “A no from them is just a no. A no from you is completely fine, of course. You’re my friend… always. But a no from you is… different. So, I haven’t been brave enough to ask.”

“You’re asking now?”

“The treehouse makes me feel brave,” he said with a small smile.

Lou placed her hand in his and allowed him to guide her to the center of the treehouse. They stepped closer to each other and swayed to the music. He didn’t let himself look away from her. He willingly made himself available to drown in her eyes.

“This is pretty romantic,” Lou said above a whisper and in a dreamy tone.

“Did you know that I make five goals for myself every summer?” Ravi asked. He had heard her words and her tone and he hoped they were positive signs for what he was about to do next.

“I didn’t,” she said. “But it sounds like you.”

Ravi chuckled and said, “True… Two of my goals for this summer are to one, be a great counselor.”

“You’re on track for that one,” Lou said. Her volume and tone had returned to normal. “You and Emma are both great counselors. And I take full credit.”

He thought about backing out of his next statement. She no longer had that dreamy tone in her voice or soft look in her eyes. But he took a deep breath and spoke, “My second goal… I’d like to take you on a date.”

He felt her hand tense in his. Confusion clouded her eyes. He braced himself for rejection.

“Like a date date? With just… us?” she asked. He nodded and the confusion in her eyes cleared. They were now bright with a smile to match. “Sure, Ravi.”

He felt like he could’ve taken off from the ledge of the treehouse and soared like a bird. It was like she had recited a moving speech or a powerful poem with just those two words.

“Cool,” he said, not at all hiding the excitement in his voice.

“Guess this is romantic,” she said, her voice dreamy again as she shuffled closer to him.

They swayed to the music even after the love song ended and the dance track started.

* * *

Graham cracker and melted chocolate scents lingered in the air even though the campfires had been extinguished a while ago. Farther from the campfire pits, to avoid bears, tents of various sizes were plotted around the campsite. Spotlights from bright flashlights were visible against the thin plastic of the tents, which were filled with giggling campers and counselors telling goofy camp stories. Only a few counselors roamed the site, preparing everything for lights out. Lou had finished marking the trees with ribbon to guide sleepy campers and counselors for late night bathroom trips. She sat down on a log in front of a lone fire and looked up at the starry sky peeking between the forest trees.

“I’ll never get tired of this,” she said when she heard footsteps behind her.

Ravi sat down beside Lou on the log and looked up with a smile. He had just returned from removing trash from the campsite. The fire in front of them crackled.

“Tired of what?” he asked. He handed her a flower that he had picked on his walk back to the campsite. 

“The stars. These camp outs…” She smiled down at the flower he had handed her and then looked up to gaze into his eyes. She added, “...You.”

Ravi gave her a dopey grin and shook his head. He said, “You say these things to flatter me.”

“Yeah, cause you get all cute when I do,” Lou said and nudged his shoulder with her own. “Even though we’ve been dating for two months.”

“I know,” Ravi sighed happily. He lightly took the flower from her and tucked it into her hair. “A testament to my great taste. You’re practically the best counselor here.”

Lou raised an eyebrow and asked, “Practically?”

“I’m a counselor now too. And I am pretty excellent at it.”

“I chopped most of the wood for the fires and Xander did the rest. You carried the matches,” Lou said flatly.

“You did chop it, which was very impressive. You’re so strong,” he said, scooting closer to her. “That’s one of my five favorite things about you.”

Lou’s eyes brightened and she asked, “Only five? Well, what are they?”

“So, we’ve established your strength. You provided all the lumber required for a fantastic s’mores contest,” Ravi said. He glanced at the Grizzly tent. “Which I know Griff and Jorge appreciated. I most certainly won’t because s’mores oddly give Griff gas. And Jorge finds it hilarious.

“Not much sleep between farts and giggles,” Lou chuckled. She tugged on the sleeves of her Camp Kikiwaka hoodie.

“Not at all,” Ravi said flatly. He chuckled and said, “Back to you. My fourth favorite thing about you is the way you make me laugh. That story you made up about your pet pig riding a mower on its own was hilarious!”

Lou widened her eyes and tilted her head. “I didn’t make that up. Pignelope caused a big fuss in my hometown that day. I don’t even think some of my neighbors will be the same after that.”

Ravi’s expression was one of panic. He stuttered, “Lou, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean…” Lou burst into laughter. Ravi’s expression softened and he smirked at her. “It wasn’t a true story; was it?”

Lou wiped tears from her eyes and said between hiccups, “No, it’s true. But everyone was fine and my neighbors loved it. I just like teasing you.”

“See, even when you’re being annoying, you manage to make me laugh.”

Lou placed her hand over his and interlocked their fingers. She said, “So, you think I’m funny.”

“You’re very funny.”

“Thank you.”

“Let’s see… My third favorite thing about you,” he said as he rubbed his thumb across her knuckles, “would be your smile.”

“Aw-shucks, Ravi,” she said with a grin. She scooted closer to him, so that their shoulders were pressed together.

“My second favorite thing about you is that you care about everyone,” he said as he leaned his head against the side of hers and watched the embers. “You care about the campers, the counselors, the camp itself. You care about the animals, both on the campgrounds and in the wild. You even care about Gladys.”

“She’s a mess. But she’s Camp Kikiwaka’s mess.”

“Everyone wants to be around you. And people are so comfortable being themselves when you’re around.”

“Yeah, a little too comfortable, sometimes though. Hazel’s told me one too many Xander-related dreams.”

The other counselors that were preparing the campsite had retired to their tents. Some of the flashlights inside the tents were out as well. Lou knew Gladys would be clearing the site of people soon and her chat with Ravi would be over.

She straightened her posture and gently let go of his hand. She said, “It’s time we put out the fire and go to our tents. So, you better tell me what your favorite thing about me is, quickly.”

He stared at her for a moment. She tried to determine what the look on his face was, but couldn’t. She wanted to hold his hand again. She wanted to move in closer. But she knew Gladys would come kill the mood any moment.

“Or you could tell me tomorrow?”

“My favorite thing about you,” Ravi said as he took both of her hands into his own, “Would be if you were…” He shyly shifted his gaze away from her eyes. “...If you were my girlfriend.”

Lou yanked him forward and he yelped. She threw her arms around him and rocked him from side to side in a bear hug.

“I can’t breathe, Lou,” he said between gasps.

She let him go and leaned away, gazing lovingly at him. She said, “We’ve been dating for two months, exclusively, and you didn’t already know that I was your girlfriend?”

His eyes widened, but they were bright. He said, “You were? I mean, you are!”

“I thought so,” she said as she leaned closer to him, so that she could feel his breath on her face. She said softly, “That you’re my adorable boyfriend.”

He leaned in closer to remove the space between them, but didn’t manage to do so in time.

“Times up!” Gladys shouted, causing the couple to jump to opposite ends of the log. She took a drink out of her water bottle and sighed. “No romance for me. And no romance for you. We all lose in life.”

Lou sighed and rolled her eyes. She stood up and offered her hand to help her boyfriend up from the log. She said, “I’ll take care of the fire. Goodnight.”

He nodded and stepped over the log. He said, “Goodnight.” Before he walked away, he smiled proudly at Gladys and said, “That’s my girlfriend!”

“Congratulations,” Gladys said sarcastically. “Go away.”

Ravi waved them both goodbye and strolled happily to his tent.

* * *

The final days of the camp season were upon Camp Kikiwaka and the stormy, rainy day bummed out the campers. Instead of enjoying the final canoe races of the summer, everyone was stuck inside the mess hall playing board games, building Lego ships, or mulling over puzzles of kittens. Ravi watched a game of checkers between Griff and Jorge.

“What’s the prize if I win again?” Griff asked Jorge, who was seated on the bench across from him at the dining table near the back of the mess hall where it was quieter.

“The loser has to pack the winner’s suitcases and clean out their side of the cabin,” Jorge announced. 

“Ew,” Griff said as he scrunched up his nose. “But you have moldy pizza crust under your bed.”

Jorge wiggled his eyebrows and said, “I know.”

“I suggest you win, Griff,” Ravi said, amused as he rocked back on the heel of his shoes.

He spotted Lou walking over to the group. He felt the spark of happiness that her presence always set off in his heart.

“Howdy, fellas,” Lou greeted the Grizzlies.

“Hey, Lou,” the campers responded without looking away from their game.

Lou frowned slightly as she turned her attention to Ravi. He noticed and asked, “Everything okay, buttercup?”

“Can I talk to you for a sec, Ravi?” she asked.

Griff and Jorge stopped their game and looked up at the counselors. Ravi could tell from the look on their faces that they suspected something bad was about to happen. He had the same feeling.

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly leave at this moment. Jorge really wanted me here to watch the game,” he said, fumbling over the excuse.

Jorge nodded enthusiastically, but he still wore a worried expression. “Yeah, yeah,” he agreed.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Lou said, leaving no room for argument as she turned and stepped toward the kitchen.

“It’ll be okay, dude,” Griff said, looking up at Ravi.

Ravi nodded solemnly. He watched the door that separated the kitchen and mess hall swing shut behind Lou. He took a breath then moved to follow the path of his girlfriend. He could hear his campers’ hushed conversation.

“You think she’s gonna break up with him?” he heard Jorge say.

“Dude, it’ll crush him. He’s gonna be crying the whole rest of camp,” Griff responded.

Ravi walked into the kitchen and saw Lou standing by the door that led to the outside dumpsters. He could hear the heavy rain pelting the ground outside. No one else was in the kitchen. There were trays on the counter of leftover baked beans from lunch.

“Hey,” she greeted him. Her tone was soft but void of its usual pep.

There was a sinking feeling in Ravi’s stomach. He tried to give her a casual smile, but he wondered if it was telling of his nervousness.

“Hey, pumpkin,” he said shakily. “What did you want to talk about?”

Lou stopped fidgeting with the sleeve of her hoodie. She visibly took a breath and said in a decisive tone, “There’s no easy way to say this, but there’s only three days of camp left, so I have to say it now.”

Ravi felt the lump in his throat. He fought back his tears because he didn’t want Lou to feel guilty for breaking up with him. The most important part of their relationship to him was their friendship and he would always put that first, even though the thought of their romantic relationship ending hurt him.

“Say what you must, Lou. I’m always here for you,” he said. “No matter what.”

“Are you only dating me to be nice?” she asked, her voice steady.

Ravi blinked. He unclenched his hand from the bottom of his jacket, which he had been holding to fight back tears. His legs felt frozen in place.

“Cause I’m obviously into you,” she continued. “Heck, I even carved that old stump into a heart for you and I didn’t even do that for Devon.”

“Whose Devon?” Ravi asked. He winced at his stupidity. How was that his first question.

“My third-grade boyfriend. And his family owned an _alpaca farm_ , Ravi,” Lou said with her expression indicating that being an alpaca-farm heir meant something.

“Oh,” he responded, still unmoving in his stance across from her in the back corner of the kitchen.

She paced in front of him as she continued, “The point is that I really, really like you. But I think you might not like me in the same way. And you’re such a good friend, Ravi. I know you’d keep dating me if it made me happy. Even if you didn’t feel the same way.”

“But I do feel the same way,” Ravi said, finally finding his voice. He stepped closer to her and blocked her pacing. “I really, really like you. And that heart you carved was amazing. I cried; don’t you remember.”

Lou’s lips curved into a slight smile as she agreed, “Yes, I remember.” Her eyes were questioning as she searched his face and said, “But I don’t understand. If you like me so much. Then why…”

Ravi wanted to fix whatever he had done wrong immediately. He racked his brain in those few short seconds, combing the length of their relationship over the summer to pinpoint where he went wrong to make her worry over something that couldn’t be farther from the truth. If anything, he always assumed she was being nice for allowing him to date her.

“Tell me, Lou,” he said anxiously.

“Ravi, not once have you tried to kiss me,” she replied.

His eyebrows shot up and he could feel his face heating. “What?” he asked, dumbstruck.

“We’ve been together all summer and you haven’t kissed me at all.”

Lou stepped away from him and sat on a stool near the prepping station of the camp kitchen. Ravi stood where he was and watched her.

“I just assumed you were shy cause…,” Lou said. “Well, honey bear, we all know you’ve never kissed.”

“Hey!” Ravi objected.

“It’s the truth,” Lou said, rolling her eyes. “But whenever I try to kiss you, something always happens. Like Gladys interrupts us by the campfire. Or Zuri hits us with water balloons on our picnic. Or you fall over the canoe into the lake at sunset. So, I figured when you were ready to kiss me, you would.” She looked up at him with sad eyes. “But you haven’t.”

“Oh,” Ravi replied.

Rainfall sounded outside the door, but the couple was silent in the kitchen. The atmosphere felt stuffy as time ticked by.

“Oh?” Lou said with annoyance in her voice. “You talk all the time, Ravi. Say something now!”

“Of course I want to kiss you, love bug. But as you hurtfully pointed out, I’m not experienced in the smooching department,” Ravi said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes at her.

“Oh, so it’s hurtful for me to say the same thing you’re thinking! And like I said, everyone knows you’ve never kissed anyone, Casanova. Why didn’t you just talk to me, your girlfriend who cares about you, about it? Huh?” 

“Because it’s embarrassing! Like, duh, Lou. I want you to continue to date me, not witness what an awful kisser I am.”

Lou stood up from the stool and said, “You’re so stupid, honey bunny biscuit. The kiss wouldn’t be awful for me… cause it’d be a kiss with you.” The annoyance and anger had seeped out of her voice. 

With just those words, Ravi felt his own anger and embarrassment leave him. He looked at her like she planned and executed the first trip to the Moon or discovered a cure to some terrible disease. To him, she was amazing. His doubts and worries were silenced by the voice in his head that told him that his girlfriend was special and sweet and would never hold his inexperience against him.

“Oh,” he said, awestruck.

Lou narrowed her eyes at him and clenched her jaw. She said, “If you say ‘Oh’ one more time, then I’m going to lock you in the chicken coop.”

Without another word, he made large strides to cover the distance between them. He tugged the front of her hoodie to bring her closer to him. He heard her gasp before he pressed his mouth against hers. He felt like he had set off a series of chemical reactions that left him crackling with energy.

“Was that okay?” he asked as he leaned away. “Did I do it right?”

Lou was grinning and the usual sunshine in her voice had returned. “Yeah,” she said. “But you should do it again. I know how science lovers are all about replicating results.”

“That’s true.”

“So at least five more times,” she said. “Minimum.”

He chuckled and leaned in to kiss her again, completely happy and not at all anxious about if he was doing it right.

* * *

Ravi loosened his fall jacket in the penthouse elevator. The late October weather in New York City was chilly. He took his phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text message with a heart emoji to Lou:

_Miss you._

When he walked into the living room, he tossed the jacket onto the couch and looked around for his family. With Luke in L.A. and Emma with their dad in France for the fall, only his sister and mom were normally home.

“Hello?” he called out.

“We’re in here!” he heard Zuri call back from the in-home theater.

He walked into the darkened room to find Zuri with three of her friends from middle school. They were all in animal pajamas and typing on their phones.

“Hey, Zuri’s brother,” one of her guests greeted him.

“Hello,” he responded politely. He looked at his sister and asked, “Is tonight your slumber party?”

Zuri rolled her eyes and said, “Duh. It’s Friday night.” She raised an eyebrow at him and asked, “Isn’t the high school homecoming dance tonight?”

Ravi sat down in one of the theater chairs. He reached for Zuri’s tub of popcorn and said, “Yes, and I won’t be attending.”

“But aren’t you a senior? Don’t you want to go?” Zuri’s friend in the unicorn onesie asked.

“Not really,” Ravi shrugged as he munched on popcorn. “I normally went with my siblings but they’ve both graduated high school.”

The girl in the frog onesie leaned over and whispered to Zuri, loud enough for everyone to hear, “That’s sad. Your big sister won’t even go to the dance with him.”

“I wouldn’t either,” Zuri matter-of-factly, snatching the popcorn tub back from Ravi. “Get your own snacks, party crasher.”

Everyone giggled and Ravi huffed. He said to her friends, “I have a girlfriend, thank you very much. I don’t need my sisters to take me to the dance.”

“Sure you do,” the girl in the unicorn onesie said in an exaggerated tone. “Let me guess, she couldn’t make it to the dance cause she ‘lives in Canada’,” she said with air quotes.

More giggling sounded over the teen rom-com playing on the screen. Ravi stood, brushing off stray popped corn kernels.

“I didn’t come in here to be mocked by thirteen-year-old girls,” he said. “My girlfriend is just busy at the moment…”

“He really does have a girlfriend,” Zuri explained. “She’s just as weird as him, but still much cooler.”

“Thank you, Zuri.” Ravi rolled his eyes and asked, “Where’s mom?”

His youngest sister shrugged and said, “I haven’t seen her all day.” 

Ravi nodded and left the girls to their party. He went into the kitchen to grab a snack and then he climbed the stairs to his room. It was neat and orderly as usual. He spotted his laptop on his desk, grabbed it, and returned to the living room. On his return, he stopped by the places in the house he knew he’d usually find his mother. But Christina was nowhere to be found. 

He plopped down on the couch and sighed. He hadn’t really wanted to go to the homecoming dance. But he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that now that he finally had a girlfriend, he couldn’t take her to the dance.

“Such is life,” he muttered to himself. He brought up YouTube and searched for people dealing with long-distance relationships.

He had watched three funny and relatable videos when he saw the email alert at the top right corner of his laptop. He clicked the message. He radiated pure joy after he read the message: He had been nominated and selected as the recipient of the Excellent Young Scholar award. He had the urge to jump up and down on the couch like a kid promised ice cream before dinner, but instead he searched for his phone.

“Where is it! Where is it!” 

He searched his pockets and the couch cushions. He grabbed his jacket from earlier and dug into the pockets until he felt his phone.

“Yes!”

He pulled up the contact as fast as he could and pressed for a video call. It rang a few times before the person appeared on the screen. The background was dark with only thin streaks of light that seemed to pass by. 

“Hey,” Lou said on the video, dragging out the word.

“I know you said you’d be busy and couldn’t talk today,” Ravi said in an excited rush. “But I just had to call you! Guess what?”

Lou’s eyes shifted to the side before she returned her gaze to him. She said, “Uh, what?”

“I won the Excellent Young Scholar award!” He announced proudly. He bounced on his toes in joy.

The video shifted and Lou’s face disappeared from the screen. Instead he saw his mother grinning from ear to ear and shaking excitedly.

“You did it! My sweet baby boy!” Christina cheered. She turned to Lou, who had scooted closer so she was visible again on the video call with his mother. “He won the award,” she said.

“I know,” Lou responded with a smile. “I heard… And now he’s seen us.”

Ravi had been so excited that it took his mind a moment to register the image on the screen. He gave the women a confused look and asked, “Mom? Why are you with Lou?” He checked the number he had selected for the call. “This is my sunshine’s number.”

Christina clicked her tongue. “Darn it. It was supposed to be a surprise, honey,” his mom said. “I took the jet to get your girlfriend for your homecoming dance.”

His mom turned the phone so more of Lou was visible. Ravi noticed for the first time that Lou looked dressed up.

“You did, mommy?” he gasped. He could feel his eyes tearing up.

“I did, my sweet baby boy,” Christina cooed. 

“If I didn’t adore you both so much, I’d gag,” Lou said looking into the camera. “Welp, honey bee, looks like you know why I didn’t want you to call.”

Ravi facepalmed and said, “As to not ruin the surprise.”

“Yep.”

“Sorry, guys,” Christina said. She looked into the camera, still beaming. “I’m just so proud of you!”

“Thanks, mom,” Ravi said as he walked into the kitchen, holding his phone up so that the camera stayed on him.

“I’m surprised you did call,” Lou said. Christina shifted from view and the focus of the video was on Lou. “You’re usually more of a stickler than me when it comes to instructions not to call. Especially with your nerdy study schedule.”

“Hey! You love schedules as much as I do,” Ravi said. He sat down at the table and continued. “You’re right. I’d normally not call if you instructed me not to.” He drummed his fingers on the table and gazed at her. “You look really nice, by the way.”

Lou smirked and replied, “I know it’s too dark in the car for you to really see me.”

“I can tell,” he said with a grin. “You always look nice.” He knew he had said the right thing by the look on her face.

“Aw-shucks,” she said with a smile.

“I’m sorry I called and ruined the surprise,” he apologized. “It’s just that when I saw that email, I was so excited! I’m still elated to have been accepted. And I… wanted you to be the first person that I told.”

“Hey!” Christina said, peeking her head back into the video. “What about me? I’m the one delivering your girlfriend.”

“Of course, mom,” Ravi said quickly. “You, of course, are the first person I wanted to tell.”

“I’ll take second,” Lou chuckled. She added, “I assume Luke, Emma, and Zuri are tied for third.”

“Don’t forget your father,” Christina said. “He’ll be fine with fourth.”

“Now that you mention it, Mrs. Kipling might get third,” Lou said, tapping her finger to her chin in the video call. 

Ravi nodded as he stood. He said, “She has accompanied me many nights while I worked on projects. She may not take being fifth lightly, and I do like having all of my toes.”

His girlfriend and his mom laughed. The lighting in the video had become brighter and he could tell they were closer in the city.

“Go get dressed, sweetie,” his mom said. “I want you to be ready when Lou and I get there.”

“Yeah, wear comfortable shoes,” Lou said. “Cause I’m ready to dance!”

The call ended. Ravi sprinted up the stairs, nearly stumbling a few times. He was taking his girlfriend to his homecoming dance and he won an award. He felt his phone buzz and saw that he had three new text messages with heart and kissy face emojis:

_Ur the first person I want to tell things 2_

_Btw this is ur gf. Not ur mom_

_I miss u 2, bf_

* * *

It was only the last weekend in March, but the weather was warm and springy. Lou had opened all the windows to let the fresh air into the kitchen. Her books for her community college course were on the counter beside a pitcher of lemonade and a bowl of walnuts. She had finished studying for her sociology class a few hours ago. Since then, she had been at the round table, working hard on her self-imposed whittling project. Her mother walked in and her eyes widened at the mess.

“Why are there wood chips all over my kitchen floor, Lou Ella?”

“Sorry, mama,” Lou said good-naturedly as she continued to carve. “I’ll sweep up when I’m finished.”

“Uh uh.”

Her mother sat her mug of tea down on the table and picked up one of the four figurines.

“Who are these tiny people, Lou Lou?” 

Lou paused her whittling to look up. “That’s Srinivasa Ramanujan,” she said, smiling up at her mother. “I’m carving five of Ravi’s favorite mathematicians. They’re going to be his present for being accepted into MIT.”

“He got in?” her mother gasped excitedly.

“Not yet, but I know he will. He’s already been accepted to five colleges,” Lou said proudly.

“He’s a smart cookie,” her mother said. She inspected the figurine and let out an impressed whistle. “Now that’s craftsmanship, Lou Lou. All of the detail and care. You are so good, my dear.”

“Thanks, mama,” Lou beamed. She returned to her whittling of Katherine Johnson. “I’ve been working on them for weeks.”

“That’s dedication,” her mom said.

Lou shrugged. “It’s not so bad. I mean, my hands are cramping like crazy and I’m starting to see these nerds in my dreams… But I love him, so it’s worth it.”

As soon as her own words hit her ears she froze. Her eyes were wide and her heart beat wildly in her chest.

“I uh…” Lou stammered. “Did you want me to cook dinner tonight or… I mean, I’ve been meaning to smoke a brisket. Brisket sounds good, right?”

“My baby’s in love!” Lou’s mother cooed and wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter, rocking her from side to side.

“Mama! Do you want brisket or not?” Lou whined. Her face was hot and her heart still hadn’t calmed down.

Her mother let her go and sat in the chair across from her, dusting off the wood chip dust first. She said, “Come on, sweet pea. We’re best friends! You can tell your mama. Are you in love with this Ravi fella?”

Lou placed her whittling tool and figurine on the table. She sighed and looked at her mom with glossy eyes. She asked, “Mama, am I being silly? We’re so young. And I’ve only been dating him since last summer…”

Her mother reached across the table and held her daughter’s hand. She smiled at her and said, “Of course it’s not silly, Lou. They’re your feelings. You’re allowed to feel however you want to.”

“Thanks, mama.”

Her mother squeezed her hand and then let go. She stood up and said, “Now I’m craving brisket. But I suppose you’ve got more of a hankering for cookies.”

“Don’t pick on me, mama. Or no brisket.”

“Alright, alright. You’re no fun.”

Lou laughed and said, “Okay, let me sweep up and then I’ll get started on dinner.”

Lou cleaned the kitchen with some help from her mother. She put away the figurines for safekeeping and then made dinner. During all of her chores, she kept thinking about her conversation with her mother. Was she in love? By the evening, she sat in her room with a notebook and pen. 

“This is so stupid,” she muttered to herself. 

She sighed and looked out the window. The moon was high and bright in the sky. Her mind wandered to that night at camp when she and Ravi sat in front of the fire under the stars. She remembered the five things he said about her and grinned.

“Maybe it’s not so stupid,” she said out loud. She pressed the pen to the paper and wrote the five reasons why she knows she’s in love with her boyfriend:

_Five- I only feel mildly annoyed when I have to look up new things that I’ve never heard of but you know everything about_

_Four- We barely have anything in common, but the things we do have in common are the most important things. Like being a good friend and freaking out about ghost shows_

_Three- Our last kiss was five months ago at the homecoming dance and the thought of it still makes me feel like a giddy goose in a glen_

_Two- You swear to be overdramatic and true_

_One- I didn’t build that treehouse for the campers. I built it to impress you_

* * *

The penthouse was located high enough in the building that a lot of the noise from the busy streets didn’t reach the terrace. It was a nice day out and Ravi had chosen to sit outside and admire the skyline. He had brought a book and his phone out with him, but he couldn’t focus on either. Lou was visiting her grandparents in an area where cell phone reception was horrible, so he hadn’t been able to text or call her all weekend. He had considered sending her a letter through the postal service, but decided it would look too needy. Part of him argued that he was needy and that he needed to hear her voice or see her funny text messages. 

“How is cell service nationwide, but never consistent or never available in certain areas,” he muttered to himself as he checked his phone for the hundredth time. 

He tossed it to the other end of the patio sofa. He almost felt embarrassed for pining over her. He had been without her before. He’d literally spent over two years as just her friend and not once had he felt like he was suffering without a text message from her. But he couldn’t help it. He was more certain that he didn’t want to help it. Feeling strongly about her made more and more sense each day.

“Maybe I should write the letter… or send a pigeon....”

He heard footsteps and looked over to see Zuri approaching him.

“This is for you,” his sister said as she tossed him a small box.

He caught it and saw that it was addressed to him. He looked at the from address. A lovestruck look took over his features. “It’s from my girlfriend,” he said to his sister.

“Cool,” Zuri said before walking back into the penthouse.

“Don’t you want to see my present,” he called out.

“Nope,” Zuri shouted back.

Ravi returned his attention to the box and opened it. He picked out two of the five wooden mathematicians and cheered, “Finally, real action heroes!”

He took out all five of the figures and placed them on the patio table. He admired the details of each, murmuring to himself, “She’s so talented.”

Warmth filled his heart as he thought about how special his girlfriend made him feel. He knew they didn’t share the same interests, but it meant a lot to him that she paid attention to the things he enjoyed. He made sure to do the same with her interests, which meant he had watched more pig races and listened to more jug bands than he had ever planned on. 

“I should find a concert for us to go to,” he murmured to himself. “She’d like that.”

He glanced inside the box and noticed a piece of paper. He reached inside and read the title of the list: The Five Reasons Why I know I’m in Love with My Boyfriend. He fumbled the paper in his hand as his heart did cartwheels.

“Love?” he said in disbelief. 

His eyes scanned the list. He read and re-read each line. He stood up and read the list. He sat down and read the list. He got a glass of water to splash on his face and then he read the list again.

“She loves me,” he said out loud. He read over the title of the list once again. “She’s in love with me,” he shouted toward the city view.

Zuri stepped back out on the terrace. She had a can of soda in her hands. She asked, “What’s all the yelling about?”

He turned to her and said, “Someone I’m in love with is in love with me too!”


	9. Delivery Continued

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a continuation of the Delivery oneshot from the Best Friend's Brother collection on the fanfiction site. This can be read without reading the other one. Ravi makes an app to deliver Lou food. Angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I do not own Bunk'd. This is a continuation of the Delivery oneshot from the Best Friend's Brother collection on the fanfiction site.

A continuous pounding on her door jolted Zuri from a peaceful sleep. She shot up in her bed and peered into the darkness. The pounding settled to an annoying knock. Zuri kicked off her blanket and plodded over to her bedroom door. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes with one hand and opened the door with the other. Her brother barged into the room. Light from the hallway revealed the distressed look on his face.

“Zuri, I’m a monster,” Ravi cried.

He flipped on the lights in her room, causing Zuri to hiss. He looked from side to side to find a place to collapse.

“A monster!” he cried again. He threw himself on her mattress and clutched a pillow to his chest.

“Dang it, Ravi,” Zuri complained. “Do you have to do this now?” She yawned as she plodded back to her nightstand. She picked up her phone and gasped, “3 a.m.” She snatched the pillow from him and smacked his arm with it. “What’s wrong with you!”

“I deserve that,” Ravi sniffled. 

He sat up and held his knees to his chest. He hadn’t changed into pajamas, so he was wearing the plain shirt and jeans he had worn all day. His shoulders sagged.

“I just binged the most terrifying show on Netflix,” Ravi said in a shaky tone. “And I’ve come to the horrible realization that I’m a... stalker!”

“This sounds more like an 11 a.m. problem,” Zuri said flatly.

“Zuri, I’m serious,” he said with his voice sterner. He fumbled his cell phone out of his pocket and dropped it into her hands. “The app. The website. The deliveries of crispy chicken wraps.” He put his face in his hands in shame.

Zuri’s busy day weighed heavily on her. Only a few short hours before she had been busy with a photoshoot for teen models wearing her mother’s new line of athleisure wear. Her eyelids hung low and the screen of Ravi’s phone was blurry in her sleepy vision. She swayed for a moment.

In her silence, Ravi lifted his face from his hands. He cried out, “Zuri!”

“Reba sing ‘Fancy’!” Zuri shouted after Ravi’s voice yanked her from her sleep.

She yawned, stretching her arms out in front of her and rocking back on her heels. She scratched her shoulder and exhaled. The bright lights of the bedroom chandelier caused a burning sensation in her eyes. She blinked rapidly as she stumbled over to her vanity on the other side of the bedroom. She plopped down on the stool and crossed her ankles.

“I’m tired, Ravi,” she said. “Explain yourself.”

Ravi let go of his knees and reached down for the blanket that Zuri had kicked to the floor. He cocooned himself in it, so that only his face was visible.

“Two weeks ago, you quit your job delivering meals for restaurants, remember? I made us deliver your last order so that the person wouldn’t spend the entire night wondering what happened to their dinner. As if they couldn’t just order something else! But the food was soggy and cold because you neglected it to watch videos on your phone. Which isn’t your fault. We all knew you were going to quit that job. But alas, I made you cook a new, better dinner with me. And I delivered the food...that was my first error,” Ravi explained. 

He went quiet and folded his lips. He stared down at the floor, which was cluttered with samples from his mother’s fashion line. His stomach felt queasy as thoughts of the creep from the show he had binged flooded his mind.

“Please finish the story before your mental breakdown,” Zuri said. She yawned and propped her head up with her arm bent on the vanity. “This is about that Lou H. chick in the crummy apartment building?”

“She was beautiful. And the food made her happy,” Ravi said as his eyes watered. “I lied and told her to use a new app for deliveries. I made the new app to redirect her orders so that I would get them. I cooked the meals myself and delivered them to her apartment. What does all of that say about me as a person!”

“That you have too much time on your hands,” Zuri said. 

“Zuri, stalking is serious and can be dangerous for those whom are stalked. I can’t believe I did something so stupid. I’m not a genius. I’m an idiot.”

“If you feel bad, then just tell her the truth,” Zuri said as she stood up and scratched her side.

Ravi stood with the blanket still tucked around his head and shoulders like a ghost. “But I can’t,” he stammered. “She’ll hate me.”

“Well, if you keep doing it then you are a creepy stalker,” Zuri said. She pushed him toward the door. “So, tell her the truth, and don’t be.”

Ravi stumbled into the hallway and turned to face his younger sister. 

“So, I am a monster?” Ravi asked in a crestfallen tone.

“I didn’t think so before,” Zuri said. “But hearing it now, it does sound pretty bad and creepy for sure...Well, love you, goodnight.”

She slammed the door in his face and returned to bed.

* * *

The next day was a mild Saturday in July. People went about their busy weekends, crowding the New York City streets. In front of the apartment door that Ravi had frequented over the past two weeks to deliver chicken and fries, he stood frozen in fear. On each side of him stood one of his sisters.

“Why am I spending my weekend visit in a cheap apartment building?” Emma asked to break the tension. When she had got in from her flight early that morning, Ravi had greeted her in the living room and told her about his restless night.

“I don’t want her to feel intimidated,” Ravi said with a frown.

Emma snorted. “By you?” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hoisted him a few inches off the ground. “I could fit you in my purse.”

“She may appreciate a female presence when I tell the truth about my horrible lie,” Ravi said sadly. 

Emma frowned and put him back down. “It’s going to be okay, Ravi,” she said.

“I’m just here to identify Ravi after this woman kills him,” Zuri said. At Ravi’s panicked look she amended, “I’m joking, Ravi. I’m going to show her the original order on my phone so that she knows you really did delivery to her on the first night because I quit.”

“My poor little psychos,” Emma said. “I moved to Italy and this is what you get into.”

Emma knocked on the door and the group waited in anticipation. Movement could be heard from behind the door. Within seconds, Lou opened the door with a bright smile on her face.

Ravi felt his heart soar. Every time he saw her face, he’d feel a spark of energy. But this time his joy did not last long and he quickly felt his heart sink. Fear and Honesty battled for dominance within him.

“Howdy, Ravi,” Lou greeted him. She glanced at Emma and Zuri. “And friends. I’m Lou.” She leaned against the door. “I didn’t order from The Chicken Ranch.”

Ravi took a deep breath. He felt Zuri put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Lou, I must tell you the truth.” He couldn’t look her in the eyes so he cast his gaze to the ground. “I’ve done something awful. I’ve lied to you. I’m not a delivery person for The Chicken Ranch.”

Zuri looked up at Lou with sad eyes. “We understand if you beat him up a bit. We just ask that you don’t crack any ribs or do any brain damage. He’s already pretty frail. And he normally uses his mind for good and not evil.”

Emma nodded in agreement.

“I knew you were lying,” Lou said.

All three siblings looked at her in surprise.

“I... I don’t understand,” Ravi stammered. He looked to each of his sisters to see if they had determined the meaning of Lou’s statement, but they looked just as baffled as he felt.

“I mean, I didn’t have all the pieces fitting together exactly, but I knew something was up,” Lou explained. She took a step back and opened her door wider. “Would y’all like to come in? I’ve got lemonade.”

Ravi was still confused, but he took cautious steps forward into the apartment.

In the hall, Zuri leaned over and whispered to Emma, “Great, she’s gonna kill us too.”

Emma gulped and followed her brother inside. Zuri muttered to herself but entered the apartment too. Lou ushered them over to a couch littered with sheet music. She collected the paper to make room for all three siblings.

“Lemonade?” she asked them.

“Do you have any without sugar?” Emma asked politely.

Lou looked to Ravi with her eyebrow raised. He couldn’t handle eye contact so he looked over to the two bikes parked near the door.

“So... water with lemon?” Lou asked.

“Perfect,” Emma said with a nod.

“No drink for me, please,” Zuri said. When Lou left to pour the water, she added for only her siblings to hear, “I’m not drinking anything until I’m sure she’s not going to kill us.”

Ravi decided to keep his eyes on the bikes. Normally, when he was delivering food to Lou, he’d focus all of his attention on her and then berated himself afterward for not learning more about her through glances past her door. Now he didn’t dare to look at anything in her apartment without her offering to show it to him first.

Lou returned with three glasses of water with lemon. She placed them on the coffee table in front of the couch. She sat at the piano bench across from them.

“I brought a glass, just in case you change your mind,” Lou said brightly to Zuri.

“Hmm,” Zuri hummed in response.

Emma reached for her glass and took a sip. “So, how did you know Ravi was lying?” she asked.

“I guess I should start with what I found,” Lou said. “So, after you delivered my food the other night, Ravi---when I ordered the two crispy chicken wraps, home fries, and gravy-- I wondered if I’d be able to see you out my window.”

“Why?” Zuri asked.

Lou shrugged and replied, “We had just introduced ourselves.”  
Ravi glanced over at Lou. He remembered how embarrassed he had felt that night, saying all the wrong things. He had inadvertently insulted the portion of food she had ordered. He had dropped hint after hint until she told him that she didn’t have a boyfriend.

“I looked out my window and saw you, Ravi, with Zuri Ross at the lamppost across the street,” Lou said.

“You knew who I was?” Zuri asked.

“Of course! You’re always on magazine covers. You and Emma Ross,” she said as she gestured at Emma. “You’re the popular, gorgeous daughters of Christina and Morgan Ross, celebrity power couple and one of the richest families on the east coast.”

“That’s so sweet of you to say,” Emma said, charmed. “I can tell you have an adequate skincare routine.”

“Thank you,” Lou said. “I think.”

“But Emma wasn’t there,” Ravi said, finally looking at Lou.

“Yes, but Zuri was,” Lou answered. “I wanted to know why Zuri Ross was with the delivery guy from The Chicken Ranch, so I snooped through her social media and found a picture of the two of you. You were tagged, but when I went to your account it was marked private.”

“I tend to stay out of the spotlight unless it deals with academics,” Ravi said.

“I know,” Lou said smugly. “After I did a little more digging, I realized you were a Ross too. You’re the younger brother. Not the older one with all the sports cars and famous Broadway career.”

“Not the cool one,” Zuri clarified.

Ravi’s face heated and he glared at Zuri. She gave him a bored look and waited for Lou to continue with her story.

“I kept thinking to myself, ‘Why would a guy in an elite graduate program with a ton of nerdy awards and loaded parents be delivering me fries and gravy?’ But then I found an article online about Christina Ross keeping her kids humble by making them work, and that her youngest had recently gotten a job in food service.”

“Gross,” Zuri whined. “I told mom not to tell anyone! Was it Gayle? I know it was Gayle. I keep telling Oprah that she can’t keep a secret.”

“You know Oprah,” Lou gasped.

“Focus, Lou,” Emma said with a snap of her fingers.

“Sorry,” Lou apologized. “Where was I? Oh, the article. That was the one part of the puzzle that I just couldn’t figure out. Zuri’s the youngest Ross, but Ravi was delivering my food. I tried to brush it off, but something about it kept bugging me. So, I thought about that app you told me to use for my orders.”

Ravi slumped against the cushions of the couch. He’d never felt so rotten. And Lou was seated across from him, proud of her detective work. He couldn’t understand why she seemed so okay with what he had confessed and what she had discovered.

“Omg, the app! That was stalker level creepy, right? When he told me that this morning, I was like ‘ew’,” Emma said. She took another sip of her water.

“It was weird when I looked through the reviews and realized they were all a copy and paste of the same review over and over again,” Lou said. “I didn’t notice the first time cause I just downloaded the app so I could order chicken. I didn’t think the delivery guy would be lying to me.”

“I am so sorry, Lou,” Ravi said. “I wish I would’ve never done it. I hate that I took advantage of your trust.”

“I called The Chicken Ranch and asked if they ever had a driver named Ravi Ross. They weren’t much help. But I got a feeling that the answer was no,” Lou continued.

“You should be a detective,” Zuri said.

“Yeah, that was really good snooping,” Emma added.

“Thanks,” Lou said cheerfully. “So, are you going to apologize to your other fake customers?”

Everyone went still. Ravi’s guilt was tangible as it cloaked him. He could feel it in his stomach and on his skin. He now understood her reaction. She didn’t understand what he had told her.

“I’m afraid that you’ve misunderstood,” Ravi said. “You were my only customer.”

Lou blinked. “Huh? But I thought that was your whole weird hobby, pretending to be a delivery worker. You know, one of those misguided attempts by super rich people to ‘humble themselves’ and be ‘relatable’ to us regular people.”

“No,” Ravi said quietly. 

“I don’t get it,” Lou said with confusion clouding her eyes.

“You see, my sister was working as a delivery person for The Chicken Ranch,” Ravi explained. “The night she quit, you were her last order. She was going to eat your dinner but I made her stop. We cooked a new meal to replace your soggy, cold one. I delivered it.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “That was supposed to be it.”

The room was silent. Ravi forced himself not to look away from her. He wanted to be honest. Emma gulped down the rest of her water. Zuri held her breath.

“Oh,” Lou said finally. “That wasn’t my guess at all.” She bunched her eyebrows together and frowned a little. “But why’d you give me a fake app and keep making me dinner?”

“You’re beautiful,” Ravi confessed. “And the food seemed to make you happy...So I wanted you to be happy.”

Lou stood up from the piano bench suddenly. Ravi flinched. Zuri gripped the edge of the couch.

“Maybe we should…” Zuri started. She grabbed a glass from the coffee table. “I need a drink,” she mumbled and drank some water. She said to Ravi, “If there’s poison in this, I’m gonna get you.”

Lou paced in front of the piano. Her hands were folded behind her back and she kept shaking her head.

“I knew the food tasted better,” she muttered. She stopped pacing and said to Ravi, “I just assumed you had like a personal chef or something helping you with your whatever.”

“He’s a pretty good cook,” Zuri said. She stood and yanked Ravi off the couch. “But I can’t take the anticipation anymore. You know the truth now.” She pushed him toward Lou. “Remember that you liked the food when you kick the snot out of him.”

“Let’s wait outside,” Emma said to Zuri as she stood up from the couch. “I don’t want to watch him get beat up, again. I saw it once in high school and it was so sad to watch.”

“You’ve done this before?” Lou asked. She gave him a look of disbelief.

“No! I was just picked on in high school,” Ravi explained quickly.

“Oh, and let’s call our publicist,” Emma said. “She’ll want a heads up once Lou gets her story out there.”

“True,” Zuri said.

“Wait,” Lou asked, “What story?”

Emma paused at the door. She let the hand that she had her phone in hang by her side. “That Ravi Ross creeped on you,” she answered.

“I did. I creeped on you,” Ravi said. He squared his shoulders and stood in front of Lou. He shut his eyes tight. “You may pummel me now. Know that I bruise easily, but do not worry. I have excellent health insurance.”

Lou stepped away from Ravi with her nose scrunched. “Man, rich people are weird,” she said. “Ravi, come on, open your eyes. I’m not going to beat you up.” She looked over at Emma and Zuri by the door. “I’m not going to beat your brother up.”

“You’re not?” All three siblings asked simultaneously.

“No, I’m not.” Lou forced a chuckle. “Yes, part of me wants to kick him till kingdom come because what he did was really weird and uncalled for.” She looked Ravi in the eye and frowned. “You know, that could be pretty scary if I thought you were a threat. But I’ve skinned deer bigger than you.”

Ravi gulped and nodded in agreement. His eyes were watery as he said, “It was...weird and uncalled for. I’m very sorry.”

“You should be,” Lou said in a disappointed tone. She cleared her throat and looked away from him. “But the last guy I went out with used to dress up in my clothes.”

“Was it weird because you’ve got bad taste in clothes?” Emma asked. She held up her hands and added, “No offense.”

“No, the weird part was that he tried to steal my identity. He made my mom call him Lou and he unburied my dead dog.”

“Oh dang,” Zuri said as she leaned against the closed door. “You need a freak repellent.”

Lou sat back down on the piano bench. Her shoulders sagged. The frown on her face had deepened.

“So, I guess I have a thing for weirdos,” Lou said, dejected. 

The room felt stuffy from all of the emotions in it. Emma hugged herself and shifted her gaze from Lou to outside the window. Zuri wrapped her hand around the doorknob, ready to bolt from the uncomfortable atmosphere. Ravi’s heart ached from the sad look in Lou’s eyes as she stared up at him.

“So... you want to get coffee sometime?” Lou asked Ravi.

“I can’t watch this,” Zuri said. She yanked open the door and walked out.

“Me either,” Emma said as she followed her sister.

Ravi flinched as the door shut. He didn’t believe it was possible to feel like a worse person. He briefly lamented the giving up of his romantic future before holding his hand out to her. She blinked up at him, but slowly put her hand in his. He squeezed it gently.

“Lou, you are the most beautiful woman that I’ve laid eyes on.”

Lou’s eyes widened and her frown lessened the tiniest bit.

“From our brief conversations, I can tell that you’re funny and kind. You shouldn’t be settling for ‘weirdos.’ You deserve to be with someone as great as you are.” He let go of her hand. “After what I did, that’s not me.”

He tucked his hands into his pockets and exhaled. The atmosphere in the room shifted to something that felt light and heavy at the same time.

“Don’t settle, Lou. You deserve much more,” he said. He gave her a small smile and then left her apartment without another word.

He found his sisters at the lamppost across from the building. “Thanks for coming with me,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Emma put her arm around his shoulder. Zuri held his arm. The three of them walked away from the building together.

* * *

When Lou’s roommate Xander returned home that night, he found her seated in the windowsill and staring out the window. He noticed his sheet music was no longer on the couch as he plopped down.

“Trying to catch a glimpse of that ripped guy wearing the Batman cowl and no shirt again?” Xander asked as he kicked off his shoes and put his feet on the coffee table. “I wonder if he does kettlebells as part of his workout.”

“I’ve just had a really strange day,” Lou said in an absent tone.

Xander’s stomach rumbled. He patted his tummy and said, “I’m hungry. I know what’ll cheer you up. We can order from that place you love. What’s it called? The Chicken Barn, right?”

Lou swung her legs off the windowsill and scooted until she was on her feet. “I won’t be ordering from The Chicken Ranch anymore,” she said.

“Aw, but crispy chicken wraps,” Xander pouted. But then a grin spread on his lips. “And that guy. The guy you said was ‘so cute.’ I thought you were going to get his number?”

“I changed my mind,” Lou said harshly. She stepped around the couch and went to the kitchen for some lemonade.

“Okay, what about Jamaican? I’m kinda craving cod fish, anyway,” Xander called out. “There’s a place not far from here. We could walk.”

“Okay,” Lou answered.

They walked to the restaurant in friendly silence. Occasionally, Xander would sing random lyrics from a song stuck in his head and Lou would hum along. People would walk around them when they’d get caught behind the best friends’ casual pace.

“You’re a musician, Xander. You’ve probably had some pretty weird fan interactions before.”

Xander snorted. “I’m not exactly in need of a security team, but I’ve been recognized once or twice from shows I’ve done. Why?”

Lou furrowed her brow as she contemplated her next question. “What’s the weirdest thing anyone’s ever done to get your attention?”

“Someone followed me into a stall once,” Xander answered. He shuddered. “That was weird. I did let the security at the club know about that one.”

“But were you, I don’t know, flattered at all?”

“Gosh, no, Lou. It was a complete invasion of privacy! Totally unacceptable.”

Lou nodded, “Right.” She tucked her hands into her pockets. “But what if instead of following you into the bathroom, she followed you to your house and gave you tasty food. Would you be flattered then?”

“Only if I was a crazy person,” Xander laughed. “What’s with all the weird questions, Lou.”

“Nothing.”

She felt the warm evening sun on her back as they walked by a mix of old and new buildings. Her whole day had felt like the strange wandering between a dream and a nightmare. She had hosted celebrities in her apartment. She had solved the mystery of the rich delivery guy. She had been told that she had been lied to for the past two weeks. Her mind kept going back to two memories: When her ex-boyfriend unburied her beloved dog, Hank. And when her papa told her that she had bad taste in boyfriends and that she should just marry Xander.

“Xander,” Lou started, “Do you ever regret moving here?”

“What? To New York? No way! I love it here. Besides, both your and my parents say that they support our dreams, but if we had stayed there, they’d force us to marry each other and, I don’t know, start a farm or something.”  
Lou chuckled. “You’re right...But do you ever think that maybe we…”

“That’d we be miserable married to each other? Yes. I’ve seen you be more attracted to an egg sandwich than me.”

They both laughed as they approached the door of the restaurant. He held it open for her.

“And I know you love being a teacher as much as I love being a musician...even if my career hasn’t exactly taken off yet,” he said.

She smiled at him and walked into the restaurant.

* * *

Two weeks had gone by since Ravi had confessed to Lou that he’d been posing as a delivery driver to bring her food. Not a night passed when she didn’t show up in his dreams with that sorrowful look in her eyes and disappointment in her voice as she told him he was a bad person. 

“I’m so sick of watching you mope around,” Zuri said as she stood in front of him with her arms crossed.

“I’m not moping,” Ravi replied in monotone.

“It’s 4 p.m. on a Saturday and you’re in dingy pajamas eating stale potato chips.”

“I like stale potato chips,” Ravi lied.

Zuri sighed as she dropped beside him on the living room couch. She tapped on her phone until she brought up the friend she had in mind.

“Get up, Ravi. Look, go have coffee with my friend Tiffany,” Zuri said.

Ravi frowned. “The young lady who won the young scholars award?”

“She’s a nerd just like you. And she thinks you’re cute,” Zuri said and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Zuri. She’s far too young for me.”

“She turned eighteen a month ago. And you’re the only person smart enough to be able to date her anyway.”

“I’m twenty-three. No,” Ravi said as he grabbed a handful of chips from the bag and plated them on the chest of his hoodie.

“So, you still live with your parents.”

“That is a choice, Zuri. Now leave me alone. I don’t want to date your friend.”

“Oh, I know what this is about,” Zuri said smugly. “You’re still hung up on Lou.”

“I am not ‘hung up.’ I’m done with that. I’m no longer a stalker.”

Zuri rolled her eyes. “You weren’t technically stalking her. You only ever showed up when she ordered food from you.”

“Under guise, Zuri.”

“So, it’s like you catfished her. That doesn’t sound as horrible.”

“Please stop trying to make me feel better,” Ravi said flatly.

“So... you don’t want to date Tiffany?”

“No, I absolutely do not want to date Tiffany.” He thought for a moment and then added, “But I do admire her academic achievements and approve of your friendship with her. She’s probably a good influence. And thank you for trying to cheer me up.”

“Look, I love you, Ravi. Yes, you did a bad thing. But you shouldn’t punish yourself forever. You owned up to it. She didn’t stab you. Don’t do it again.” Zuri patted him on the shoulder and stood. “Keep being the great guy you’ve always been.”

Ravi nodded. Some chips rolled to the couch.

“I’ll try,” he promised.

* * *

August crept in with cooler weather and Ravi returned to work at his graduate program at the university. His routine was the same every day: Go to class. Go to the lab. Go home. He had always been studious, but the delivery fiasco drove him to throw himself completely into his research. One late afternoon, he was in the office he shared with another grad student when his mentor knocked on his door.

“Hello, Professor Claus,” Ravi greeted the older man. He stood and cleared the guest chair of the books that had been piled in it. “How are you today? Did you want to discuss the pages I sent you?”

Professor Claus waved his hand and smiled. “No, no. I’m just here to check up on you.”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Ravi said. “Has there been anything wrong with my work?”

“Your work has continued to be as excellent as ever,” Professor Claus replied. He fluffed his beard. “I can’t help but wonder if anything else is wrong, though.”

Ravi froze. He had thought that he had picked himself up from moping after his talk with Zuri. He had been focusing on his work and spending time with his siblings. There were the occasional lapses when he’d get caught in a daydream, where he would approach Lou like a normal person instead of posing as a delivery worker and be the kind of guy should be happy to go out with. But the what-ifs made him feel bad and he avoided them when possible.

“You know, Ravi,” Professor Claus said, interrupting his mentee’s thoughts, “There’s a world outside of this college.”

“I know, professor,” Ravi said with a nod.

“Then why are you here on a Saturday?”

Ravi looked down at the screen of his laptop and sighed. “Maybe I’ll check out the breakroom,” he said.

“Not exactly what I had in mind, but it’s a start,” Professor Claus replied. He stood from the guest chair and adjusted the straps of his suspenders. “I’m off to the bakery. It’s time for a cookie break. See you Monday.”

The breakroom was empty of students and professors when Ravi walked in. He checked the cabinets for tea or coffee. He found none. He leaned against the counter and thought to himself. What did the professor mean about the world outside the college? He glanced at the board adjacent to him where fliers for research opportunities and job postings were tacked. He walked over and snatched one of the thin strips of paper with contact information off one of the fliers. He scanned over the flier before another caught his attention.

“I suppose they’ll have coffee,” he said to himself. It was an advertisement for the coffee shop around the block.

He stopped by his office before he walked to the coffee shop. He held his tablet in his hands and read an article that was recently published by one of his professor’s colleagues. The line to order was busy, so he stood patiently and read. He didn’t notice who the barista was until he was called next in line.

“Ravi,” Lou said in surprise.

“Sorry,” Ravi stammered. He backed into the customer behind him.

“Watch it,” the customer grumbled.

Ravi sped out of the coffee shop.

* * *

For about a week in August, Lou had thought about her short encounter with Ravi at the coffee shop. She was embarrassed that her first thought when she had seen him was that he was as cute as she had remembered. She had to remind herself that not only did he do something untrustworthy, but he had turned her down when she tried to settle for him. Fortunately for her, it was the first and only time she had seen him in the shop. She was a barista on weekends to supplement her teaching salary.

In the middle of September, Lou had met a guy at one of Xander’s gigs. His name was Noah and he was a jerk. But he was more normal than the guys she had dated before, so she ignored her instincts and continued to go out with him. She figured it was more sensible to date a douchebag than to send a message to Ravi through Instagram like she had been tempted to on occasion.

So, by Halloween, Lou had been dating Noah and adjusting to her new life in New York. 

“Ms. Hockhauser, I’m going to be a fashionista butterfly for Halloween.”

It was the end of the school day and Lou was collecting tablets from her fifth-grade students.

“I bet you’ll be the best butter to ever fly,” Lou grinned.  
“You’re so corny, Ms. H,” another student laughed.

“Are you dressing up, Ms. H?” another student asked.

“Not this year,” Lou answered. “But I’m going out for a special Halloween dinner with my boyfriend.”

“Ooo, boyfriend!” some of the children squealed. They made kissy faces at their teacher and laughed as they bounced out of the classroom.

“Alrighty, y’all have a great Halloween!”

Lou had arrived at the trendy restaurant at seven sharp. She wore a black dress with an orange belt and cute, little pumpkin earrings. The restaurant had a special Halloween menu with punny names for the dishes and elaborate desserts that were picture perfect. That’s why she had picked the place for their date. But it was now eight o’clock and Noah hadn’t shown up. She jumped slightly when her phone rang. 

“Noah?” she answered.

“Hey, Lou, I’m going to be late. Mind grabbing my food and dropping it off at my place.”

“This was supposed to be our night out,” Lou said through her teeth. “You promised.”

“But the games on and Fred made nachos at his place.”

“Seriously? Fred’s.” Lou sighed and rested her forehand in her hand as she leaned her elbow against the table. “But it’s Halloween, Noah.”

“Halloween is for kids, Lou. You’re twenty-five.”

Lou clenched her jaw and sat up straight. She took a deep breath in through her nostrils then exhaled slowly before she spoke into the phone. “Why in the world would I drop food off at your place if you’re already eating?”

“I get hungry at night. Oh! Did you see that! Nice! Oh, Lou, you should really watch the game. So, yeah, just put my food in the fridge. My roommate will let you in. And if you’d toss some of the trash by the door on your way out, that’d be awesome. Bye.”

The call ended and Lou stared at her phone. Her blood boiled. She tossed her phone across the table and bit her lip to keep from shouting at the top of her lungs. Her imagination went wild with all the ways she could shove Fred’s nachos down Noah’s throat. 

“Lou?” she heard a voice beside her ask. 

Her heart stopped and her breath caught in her throat. Ravi stood there with a take-out bag in his hand. He was dressed in a t-shirt that read Happy Halloween and a button-up with little, orange pumpkins all over it. She wanted to both punch him in the face for existing and hug him for being so adorable.

“Hi,” he said to her silence. He shifted on his feet uncomfortably. “I, uh, I’m sure I’m the last person you want to see, but I couldn’t stop myself.”

She refrained from telling him not to stop himself. Her mind worked double time to listen to him, remember why he was creepy, and remind herself that she had a boyfriend all at the same time.

“I wanted to let you know that...when I was at the coffee shop that day,” Ravi continued. “...I promise that I had no idea that you worked there. I want you to know that I wasn’t following you or anything. I usually drink whatever is in the breakroom, but we were out of everything…”

He waited for her to respond but when she didn’t, he said, “So, that’s all I wanted to say.”

“I didn’t think you were following me, Ravi,” Lou said. “I was just surprised to see you. I hadn’t seen you since...you know.”

“Again, I’m so sorry for that, Lou,” he said with sincerity in his eyes.

“I know,” Lou said softly. She looked away from him and down at the table. The plate in front of her and across from her were empty. She had refused to order until her date showed up. Purple confetti in festive shapes had been sprinkled over the table. 

“Happy Halloween, Lou,” Ravi said.

She looked back up at him and glanced at the bag in his hand. “Dinner?”

“Uh, yes,” Ravi answered. “The special Halloween menu was adorable. I couldn’t resist.” He chuckled lightly.

“Me either!” She grinned. “Did you see the breadsticks that look like severed fingers?”

“I ordered some,” Ravi replied with just as much enthusiasm.

“My stupid boyfriend is…” Lou started. Her eyes widened and she folded her lips.

“Lou it’s fine. I’m not a stalker. You can have a boyfriend and as your complete stranger I can be happy for you.” Ravi smiled. “Which I am. Wish him my best and enjoy your Halloween.”

“Thanks,” Lou said half-heartedly. She gave him a small smile and watched him walk away.

She waited until she was sure he had left before she got up to leave the restaurant. She knew it shouldn’t matter to her if he saw her being stood-up by her boyfriend, but it did. She took the subway straight to Noah’s place and pounded on the door until his roommate let her in. She grabbed a marker from a drawer and folded a greasy paper bag that was discarded on his kitchen floor. She wrote in big, bold letters: We’re done! Avoid me or expect to suffer.

“Make sure he gets this or I will come back here,” Lou said sweetly through her teeth.

His roommate shook slightly as he stuttered out, “Yes ma’am.”

* * *

The public library was busy with activity in November. There were student groups and casual visitors and seasonal events. Ravi had grabbed a book from the lower level and was ascending the grand staircase that led from the quieter lower level to the common area where the public computers and resource desk were located. He heard his name being called.

“Ravi, hey,” Lou greeted him on the steps.

He stopped and blinked. He couldn’t stop the warm feeling in his chest whenever he saw her. 

“Hi, Lou. How are you?”

“Good, I’m a teacher.” She winced and shuffled forward as a couple stepped around her to continue their climb up.

“Congratulations,” Ravi said. He stepped toward her to avoid being toppled by a group of teenagers bounding down the stairs.

“I mean, I’ve been a teacher,” Lou corrected. “I volunteer here on Thursday evenings. I host a book club for fifth graders and their parents.”

“That’s awesome,” Ravi said with awe in his voice. He wanted to fall in love with her right then. But he remembered how he had ruined any chance of that happening and how she had a wonderful new boyfriend.

“It’s a lot of fun. The kids like it,” Lou replied.

“I’m a teaching assistant at the university. I hold a study session for my students here on Thursdays. It seems to be helpful for them,” Ravi said.

“So, we both teach.”

“We do.” 

They had shuffled closer to each other to avoid the other library patrons. Her eyes were bright and it made his heart melt. He wanted to tell her that she looked lovely in her sweater; it had a waving turkey on it. 

“Um, I’ll let you get back to it,” Ravi said. “Bye.”

“Bye,” Lou said as she turned and continued down the stairs.

* * *

Lou sat at the piano bench and used Xander’s piano as a desk as she graded papers. It was winter break for her students and the last assignment she had them turn in were essays about people who changed the world for the better. She felt like the topic was appropriate for the Christmas time of year. 

Xander came out of his room and leaped over the back of the couch to land on its cushions.

“Guess what my best friend is doing tonight?” He asked.

“Grading papers,” Lou muttered as her eyes scanned over the paper in her hand.

Xander made a buzzer noise. Lou chuckled and put down the essay. She turned to face him.

“You are going with me to a party,” Xander said.  
“Party?”

“Yeah, my manager wants me to go to this holiday party that a big-time producer is hosting at his penthouse. He says it could help my career.”

“Well then won’t your manager be there? You won’t need me in the way.”

“You are never in the way,” Xander said as he sat up. “Please, come with me. I’m already nervous and I’d feel a lot better if I knew there was someone at the party that actually cared about me.”

Lou tilted her head and gave him a sympathetic smile. “Your manager cares about you.”

“My manager cares about making money,” Xander said. 

“Hey, I care about you making money, too. Our rent isn’t cheap,” Lou joked.

“Ha, ha,” Xander said sarcastically. “So, will you come?”

Lou rolled her eyes. “You knew I was when you asked me the first time.”

Xander grinned and agreed, “I know.”

The penthouse was large and lavish. Decorations covered every corner of the room and the music was performed by a live band. Xander’s manager whisked him off as soon as the three of them stepped off the elevator. Lou felt out of place. Everyone was dressed in designer-formal attire and their shoes probably cost more than she made in four months. She wore a green dress that she had bought for a Christmas party two years ago. This was probably the twentieth time she’d worn it since then.

After half an hour of munching on hors d’oeuvre beside the tuba player, she was ready to go home. She scanned the room for Xander and spotted him by a painting that looked old and expensive. He was laughing with a group of well-dressed people. She decided against begging him to let her leave early. She wanted to be there for her friend if this was important to his career. But she did need a break. She figured the bathroom would be a good place to hide for a moment. 

She made her way to the grand staircase. People dotted the steps in small groups, holding drinks in their hands and chatting in serious tones. She made her way up the stairs and wandered down a long hall. None of the doors had markings to distinguish them. She would approach a door, hover her hand over the knob, and then decide against it. Finally, she decided to just pick a door at random and hope it was a bathroom. She opened a door.

“Lou?” 

“Ravi!” 

She looked around the room that she had stepped into. It was mostly neat and organized. There were shelves of books and a desk with several computer monitors on it. There were graphs and charts on the screens. There was also a laptop on the desk. Scooched back from the desk was a gaming chair and across the room was a television mounted on the wall. Game controllers were below it. There was a telescope in the corner with a jacket hanging off the end of it. 

“This isn’t the bathroom,” Lou said awkwardly.

“No,” Ravi said. He stood from his gaming chair. “Are you here for the party?”

Realization dawned on Lou and she facepalmed. “Morgan Ross is the big-time producer hosting the party. And he’s your dad,” she said.

“Yep,” Ravi said with an awkward laugh. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his athleisure pants. “So... are you not enjoying the party?”

“You live with your parents?”

Lou heated with embarrassment. Her brain was useless to her now that she had carelessly wandered into the room of the only guy she shouldn’t be attracted to. 

“Yep, I live with my parents,” Ravi said. “But they make me pick out my own clothes and brush my teeth myself.”

Lou giggled and immediately regretted it. She sounded like a lovestruck teenager.

“Hold on, that’s not entirely true. My mom did give me these pants from her new line of teen fashion.” Ravi scrunched his nose. “I probably shouldn’t have admitted that I’m wearing clothing meant for children.”

Lou giggled again and she hated herself.

“I can show you to the bathroom,” Ravi offered. “It’s right down the hall.”

“It’s okay,” Lou said. She took a deep breath and got her thoughts together. “I didn’t really have to use it. I think it was just nerves.” She twisted the bracelet on her wrist. “There’s a lot of fancy people down there.”

“I get it,” Ravi said. “They can be a bit uptight when it comes to finding the right people for their next project. It’s really a networking event with expensive drinks and cocktail weenies.” 

“My best friend, Xander, is down there with his manager. He wants to try acting to help boost his music career,” Lou explained. “I’m his plus one.”

“Cool.”

They stood there in silence. She tried to think of something to say, but couldn’t. His room smelled like gingerbread cookies. Her eyes shifted and she saw the plate of cookies and milk on his nightstand. 

“I better get back,” Lou said. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”

“You’re no bother,” Ravi said quickly. “I could actually use a snack.”

Lou didn’t mention the full plate of cookies behind him. She said, “There’s a ton of stuff at the party. Your parents really went all out.”

“Did you see the vegetable tray? It is very elaborate.”

“I didn’t, but I’ve been taking so many pictures. This is the nicest party I’ve ever been to and the only penthouse I’ve ever been inside.”

“Have you seen the view from the terrace, yet? That’s the picture you want; I assure you.”

Lou understood where this was going. She knew if she left this room with him and went out to the terrace or off to the kitchen for fancy vegetables, then she’d be hooked. There would be no going back to before him. 

“I’m going back to the party alone, Ravi,” Lou said slowly.

She saw the hurt on his face. It made her own heart hurt. But she couldn’t change the past.

“I’ve made too many bad choices with guys before, and I don’t want to do that anymore. If we take this any further, what does that say about me? I mean, you made a fake app and pretended to be a delivery person because you like the way I look. How do we create a healthy relationship with a start like that?”

“I know,” Ravi said sadly. “And I agree. And I wish I could take it back. I think about it all the time. What if I let your order go unanswered that night? Never met you until I walked into the coffee shop near the university one day. You’d be funny and cute like you always are and I’d work up the courage to ask for your number. Or what if I never met you until we passed each other in the library on Thursdays so many times that I couldn’t help but ask you your name?”

“Those would’ve been really nice ways to meet,” Lou said with a lump in her throat. “We would’ve fell for each other. I can feel it.”

Ravi’s eyes watered. “Me too,” he said hoarsely. He cleared his throat. “Besides, I’m sure you’re very happy with your boyfriend.”

“Noah?” Lou laughed bitterly as she blinked back her own tears. “I dumped him that night that I saw you at the restaurant. The jerk stood me up. You were right that day you came to my apartment and told me the truth: I deserve better.”

“And I meant it,” Ravi said with a watery smile.

Lou held her arm and looked up at the ceiling as she said, “This will be easier if we just stayed away from each other. We run into each other all the time now, but maybe we shouldn’t say hello.”

“Good thing I’m moving to Germany.”

Lou dropped her gaze from the ceiling to his eyes. There was an ache in her chest. She felt like she had goosebumps on her arms.

“What?” She asked. Her voice was strained.

“There was a flier in my breakroom with a research lab position in Germany. I contacted them and their projects line up with my own. It’s fine with my grad program, to finish up my degree there. I hadn’t decided to go yet…”

Lou tried to say, “Oh,” but the words wouldn’t come out. It sounded like an exhale.

“I guess I’ve decided now,” Ravi said.

Lou turned away slowly and walked out of the room. She didn’t hear footsteps behind her. He wasn’t following. As she sat at a barstool in the kitchen, swirling a carrot in ranch, she wondered if every year of her new life in New York would be this complicated.


	10. Ask Him to Prom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hazel gives Lou a random number to text and ask to prom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I do not own Bunk'd. This collection of unrelated oneshots was inspired by OTP prompts found on tumblr.

The baseball field buzzed with energy. Only three games were left in the season. Players were covered in sweat and dirt. All eyes were on the star player, Xander. He bent his knees, gripped the bat, and narrowed his eyes at the pitcher, daring him to throw some heat. The pitcher accepted his dare. The ball bolted forward. Xander’s bat sliced through the air and sent the ball flying; the sound echoed into the stands. The crowd cheered as his feet pounded against the dirt, all the way to second base.

“Go Xandy!”

“Woo! Go Xander!”

Lou and Hazel cheered from the stands. They both wore t-shirts with Xander’s uniform number on the front and back. Hazel had used fabric pens to draw hearts and kisses all over her shirt. She had even used gold, iron-on letters to write ‘Number 1 Fan’ on the back. Lou hadn’t added any embellishments to her shirt.

“I’m finally going to do it. I’m going to ask Xander to the dance,” Hazel said as they sat back down.

“You’ve asked him to every dance, every year, for the past three years,” Lou replied. She tossed popcorn into the air and caught the pieces in her mouth. “I’d call that a losing streak.”

“But we’re seniors now, and this is prom,” Hazel said with her nose in the air. Her pigtails were dyed red at the tips, one of the school colors.

“Exactly,” Lou said as she shook her bag of popcorn to loosen the popped kernels. “He’s not going to spend his last dance of high school with you drooling all over him. Besides, I know for a fact that he’s asking that new girl to go with him.”

Hazel whipped her head to face Lou, slapping her in the face with a pigtail in the process. She said, “You better not be talking about that leggy blond whatsherface!”

“Her face is named Emma, and he told me last night that he was going to ask her to prom.”

Someone in the stands groaned as the batter struck out.

“Why would Xandy do that!” Hazel shouted.

Lou shrugged. She kept her eyes on the game. Her baseball cap shielded the spring sun from her eyes and she mentally counted the money in her pocket to see if she could buy a hot dog.

“She’s obviously a weirdo. Weirdo than you, even. What kind of freak transfers to a new school with only a month left in the school year?”

“Her dad’s a director or something. He moved the whole family to be near the movie shoot.”

“That’s total bologna. No one wants to make a movie in this ratty town. That story is so a cover for the fact that she’s a freak.”

The next batter sent the crowd into a frenzy after he hit the ball and it whizzed through the air. Lou jumped to her feet and cheered. She watched Xander sprint from base to base.

“Well, she’s a freak he’s going to ask to prom,” Lou chuckled. She sat back down beside Hazel, who was glaring at her with her nose scrunched and her mouth pinched.

Someone in the stands turned up some music on their phone and a group of students started dancing. A teacher a few rows below them shouted at them for having fun.

“I’ll get you for this,” Hazel said to Lou with venom in her voice. She stood up quickly, hitting Lou with her pigtail, and stomped down the bleachers.

“What did I do!” 

Hazel didn’t look back, so Lou just rolled her eyes and went back to munching on her popcorn. She searched the stands for anyone else she recognized. Most of the people that she hung out with were either on the baseball field or had chosen to graduate a semester early to join the workforce. She stood up, walked to the edge of her row, and looked over the railing to see the line for the hot dogs. It was still pretty long. She sighed and looked around. Seated on the bench next to the concession stands, she spotted Emma. She waved, but wasn’t seen. There was a guy Lou didn’t recognize sitting beside Emma. She couldn’t get a good look at his face, though. She sighed and turned her attention back to the game.

* * *

Ravi sat beside Emma on the bench next to the concession stand. There seemed to be a constant line at the counter. He had already been twice to buy water. His older sister insisted on staying hydrated to keep her skin clear of pimples. The air smelled like hot dogs and body spray. He hadn’t planned on attending the baseball game, but his brother was playing and his sister wanted to check out the star player.

“Don’t you already know the guy,” Ravi said to Emma. “Why do we have to watch him play baseball?”

“Because I like him, Ravi,” Emma said in an annoyed tone. “So, stop complaining.”

Ravi looked over at the stands. There were a lot of students, parents, and teachers at the game. Plenty of people were in red and black t-shirts, the school colors. 

“Why can’t we sit with everyone else?” Ravi asked.

“Ew, everyone over there’s all sweaty,” Emma said with her nose scrunched. She reached in her bag and took out a tube of lip gloss. “And when the game’s over, I want to be the first face Xander sees. He said he wanted to ask me something.”

Ravi rolled his eyes and said, “As soon as the game’s over, I’m out of here.”

Emma tossed him her keys while applying her lip gloss. She smacked her lips and said, “Then you better take the car. I’ll just have Xander or his adorable best friend drop me off home.”

“What about Luke?”

“I think he said he’s hanging out with the team after the game. Oh, look! Xander’s batting next.”

Ravi watched the game, but he wasn’t really paying attention. He glanced at the stands and searched for anyone he recognized from his classes. It was a difficult task being that he barely knew anyone. He spotted a young lady standing by the railing and his heart skipped a beat. She was watching the game intently. Even with the baseball cap on, he could still see that she had a pretty face. He saw the crowd erupt into a cheer and the young lady shouted and pumped her fist in the air. He smiled to himself and then turned away to impatiently sit through the rest of the game.

* * *

The next afternoon, Lou stood swapping out books at her locker. Her locker was a mess that she had successfully avoided until now. She needed to find her purple notebook with the list of local sponsors for the yearbook ads and the tiny piece of paper she wrote a funny quote on. As she rummaged, she felt the presence of another person walk up to her.

“Excuse me,” said a guy’s voice. “I’m… I’m…” he sighed. “I’m looking for Coach Johnson’s office.”

Lou continued fiddling with some random junk she hadn’t cleaned out of her locker. She didn’t look around the door to see the guy as she casually answered, “First door on the right at the end of this hall.”

“...Thanks.”

It wasn’t until he left that her brain caught the signal from her ears that the person had a nice sounding voice. She gripped the edge of her locker door and looked around it. She looked behind her and to her other side. But the guy was lost to her in the crowd.

“Dang it,” she muttered. 

At that moment, she saw Hazel stomping up to her. She braced herself for drama.

“Thanks a lot, Lou.”

“What’d I do this time?” Lou asked in a monotone. She closed her locker and leaned against its door.

“You put that stupid idea in Xandy’s head to ask blondie to prom.” 

“I didn’t tell him to ask her.”

Hazel talked over her. “And of course, she practically threw herself at him!”

“He asked her.” 

“Ugh,” Hazel stomped her foot. “She’s so desperate.”

Lou pressed her back off the locker and walked away. She glanced around, wondering if she’d be able to detect that voice again. Hazel followed behind her through the crowded hallway.

“Not only is she desperate,” Hazel continued her rant, “But she’s ugly with a terrible personality.”

Lou rolled her eyes. She turned a corner and entered their history of the Americas class. She sat at her desk and Hazel slipped into the desk in front of her. 

“Don’t be a hater, Hazel. She’s not only super pretty, but she’s super nice. You’d probably like her if you weren’t so... you.”

“This is your fault and I’ll never be happy again,” Hazel said dramatically. She crossed her arms and faced forward for about three seconds before turning back to Lou. “And I’m asking Branson to prom.”

Lou grimaced and leaned back in her seat. “But Branson sucks, Hazel. Why ask him?”

“I’m not a moron, Lou-ser. I know he sucks, but he’s cute. And it was either him or Eric and eww Eric dated you so, hard pass.”

“First of all, you dated Eric, too. Also, Branson has asked me out like a million times.”

“Did you see the boat his dad got him for graduation?” Hazel said as she pulled a picture of it up on her phone.

“What? He's gonna bring you to prom on it,” Lou said sarcastically.

“You’re just jealous.”

“Not even a little. I hope y’all have a wonderful time. I’ll be training my goat to paint. I saw a video of a horse doing it, and I know Gerty could do way better.”

Hazel slapped her hands on Lou’s desk. “Not so fast. If I’m going to be miserable at the prom, then you have to be miserable too.”

Lou used her notebook to push Hazel’s hands away from her desk. “No thanks,” she said. “You can creep on Xander and Emma while Branson brings you fruit punch all night. But I’ll be at home.”

“Come on, you owe me. For putting that twisted idea in Xander’s head to ask out the Wicked Witch of the East.” 

“For the last time, I didn’t tell Xander to ask out Emma.”

“You owe me. You owe me. You owe me. You owe me. You owe me. You owe me!”

“Shut up!” Lou said with her hands over her ears. She relaxed her shoulders and exhaled. “If it’ll shut your trap and get you off my back... then fine.”

The teacher at the front of the classroom cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows at the two young ladies. Lou pressed her forehead against her desk. Hazel slouched in her seat with a triumphant grin.

* * *

Xander strolled past a row of desktop computers in the classroom for the yearbook committee. He dropped down into a computer chair and kicked his feet so that he rolled across the room to Lou. They were on the yearbook committee together.

“Sup, Lou.”

“I had to suffer through Hazel all first period because of you,” Lou replied. She cropped a picture of the cheerleading squad at a regional competition. “She found out.”

“That I’m taking Emma to prom?”

“That I told you to ask Emma.”

Lou saved the page then turned to face Xander. “Did you tell her?” she asked.

“No way! Honestly, I was afraid to tell her anything.” He frowned and leaned his elbow against the table. “I regret wiping that marshmallow fluff off her face in fourth grade. It sent the wrong message.”

“It sure did, Casanova.” 

Lou stood to return the old yearbooks that she had stacked beside the keyboard for inspiration back to the shelf in the corner. Xander picked up the ones she missed and followed behind her. 

“I promise, I didn’t tell her that you pushed me to ask Emma to prom,” Xander said. He lightly punched her shoulder. “Thanks, by the way.”

“You’re welcome, dummy. I can’t believe you were going to be a chicken and not ask her.”

“Can you blame me? She’s beautiful and cool and…”

“And you’re already in love with her,” Lou teased.

“Am not!”

“Whatever. Look, the problem now is Hazel wants revenge. She annoyed me into agreeing to go to prom,” Lou said with irritation in her voice.

“That’s great!” Xander exclaimed with a big smile. She gave him a look and his smile dimmed. “Or not?” He amended.

“I don’t want to go to prom, Xander. I want to paint with my goat.”

“But it’s senior prom, Lou. Don’t you want to dress up and go to a nice dinner and dance?”

Lou thought it over. She hadn’t given much thought to prom. She went last year with Xander and his ex-girlfriend, but it wasn’t any different from the rest of the school dances. Maybe she’d feel differently if she had a date, but the guys at her school were either brotherly types or complete jerks. 

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. 

“There’s got to be some guy out there that you’re into.”

“Not that I’ve met,” she said. She perked up and changed the subject, “What I do know is that you’re going to have an awesome time with Emma. You’re so cute together. And you’re so welcome.”

“Did I ever mention that you’re my best friend?” Xander said as he swung an arm around her shoulder. “Whoever you do end up being into is a lucky guy.”

* * *

Lou sat at a table alone during lunch, reading through her comic book. Most of the other seniors left campus during lunch, but Lou was saving up her money to buy a new part for her truck. So, instead of fries and burgers from the fast food place up the street, she was having the cafeteria’s special: meatloaf surprise. Suddenly, Hazel plopped down in the chair beside her. 

“This is for you, Lou-ser,” Hazel said. She slid a piece of paper across the table with a phone number scrawled on it.

“This a number to the therapist I’ll need after four years of high school with you?”

Hazel pushed away Lou’s tray and said sternly, “Text the number asking them to prom.”

“No way,” Lou said, taking another bite of her meatloaf. She spit it back out and stuck out her tongue. “I tried. This isn’t edible.”

Hazel grabbed the tray and stood. She dumped the food into the trash can and then returned with the empty tray. “There, now text the number,” Hazel demanded.

“Not uh. I have to at least know who you’re trying to stick me with, Hazel.”

“I said I wanted you as miserable as I am going to be without Xander,” Hazel said, narrowing her eyes at Lou. “I’m not playing matchmaker. And oh boy, did I pick a loser for Lou. I want your prom to be awful.”

“I spend more than enough time with you, and whoever you pick can’t be worse than you,” Lou said. She made herself appear unbothered on the outside, but inside she was freaking out. It was bad enough that she had to go to prom. She didn’t want it to be purposely awful, too.

“Don’t bet on it,” Hazel said with a smirk. She dumped the contents of her lunchbox on the table. She picked up a fruit and held it out toward Lou. “Orange?”

Lou opened her palm and Hazel dropped the fruit into her hand. Lou said, “This better not be the janitor’s number, Hazel.”

“Darn it! Why didn’t I think of that… Too late now.”

“Do I really have to do this?”

“You betrayed me, Lou. Xander is my true love. He’d never ask someone like Emma out without encouragement. And I know it was you.”

“Fine. You’re so dramatic. And you’re lucky that I feel guilty for some strange reason,” Lou said as she took out her cell phone.

“You feel guilty cause you know Xandy and I belong together.”

“I feel guilty cause you’re nuts and you can’t help it.”

Lou typed the number into her phone. Her hand shook slightly. She tried to think of what to type to a total stranger, who may or may not be someone Hazel found on the Internet. She settled on a message and sent it:

_Prom?_

Hazel snatched away Lou’s phone as soon as the message was sent. She glanced at the screen and raised her eyebrow. “Are you serious? That’s all you sent.”

“What?” Lou said, raising her shoulders.

“I can’t believe Xander likes you better than me,” Hazel said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

“Maybe cause I’m not trying to marry him,” Lou said. She dug her nails into the orange to peel it.

“Have I shown you a picture of my wedding dress?” Hazel said excitedly, taking out her phone.

“Yes,” Lou said flatly. “Though I keep telling you that I won’t indulge you in your delusions.”

“I’m thinking a spring wedding!”

Lou sighed and gave in. “Are you going with a DJ or a live band?”

* * *

Ravi sat in the backseat of Emma’s car reading a book on Greek mythology. He always arrived at the vehicle earlier than his siblings, which is why he usually kept the keys. He didn’t do much socializing after school unless it was Tuesday. That’s when he had science club, his only extracurricular activity. He had been in a lot of after-school programs at his previous school, but there had also been more opportunities there in the city. Fifteen minutes passed before his brother and sister arrived.

“I can’t believe how well we’re fitting in here,” Emma said as she slid into the driver’s seat. “I’ve already got a date to prom and some people are saying that I could be prom queen.”

Luke kicked his feet up on the dashboard and reclined the passenger’s seat, saying, “I’ve got three different parties with three different girls lined up that night.”

Ravi rolled his eyes and closed his book. He said, “Yes, we all can’t believe how two popular cool kids remained popular and cool.”

Emma adjusted her mirror and looked at him in the reflection. “Don’t worry, Ravi,” she said. “Everyone’s freshman year sucks. It’s tough being fourteen.”

“My freshman year was awesome,” Luke said, earning him a swat on the shoulder from Emma.

“It’s the end of my sophomore year,” Ravi said flatly. “And I’m sixteen.”

“Dude, you’re sixteen?” Luke said over his shoulder. 

“You’re only a year older than me, Luke,” Ravi replied as he put on his seatbelt.

“Huh, I thought he was a freshman,” Emma said as she turned on the radio. “Oh, I love this song!”

“Ah, another great bonding experience with my brother and sister,” Ravi said with sarcasm. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”

He put in his earbuds to drown out the sound of Emma’s upbeat pop music. A podcast about astrobiology played in his ears. He noticed a message bubble that he had ignored earlier when his phone had buzzed during lunch. He opened the message:

_Prom?_

He raised his eyebrows. He knew that it couldn’t be for him. He was new. Most of their grades had been transferred over and going to the new classes was just a formality after his dad was able to pull some strings and enroll them with only a month of school left. And even though his siblings were instantly popular, Ravi was the new kid with no particular friend group. And his attempt to talk to the pretty young lady he had spotted at the baseball game at her locker today had been a failure because he chickened out. He was also a sophomore. Few sophomores at his previous school were ever invited to prom. Emma, of course, had been asked to prom all four years of high school. But the most he had in common with his older sister was expensive taste and a last name. He sent a quick reply back:

_Wrong number._

* * *

The next day, Hazel had a dentist appointment, so she missed history. But as soon as she spotted Lou stretching on the field during gym, she ran up to her expectantly.

“Ready for prom?”

Lou stood up and dusted the grass off her shorts. “Nope! Your plan backfired.” She smiled, “Looks like I’m staying in with Gerty after all.”

The gym teacher blew her whistle and shouted for everyone to do laps. Lou and Hazel hustled over to the track and began a slow jog. 

“Stupid, how’d you think the guy would respond with that weak message.”

“Excuse me, but I’ve never blindly asked someone to a dance before. And I don’t even want to go!”

“Well you can’t back out now. My aunt won’t give me the discount if I don’t have six people for the limo.”

The gym teacher blew her whistle again and shouted for everyone to pick up the pace. Lou and Hazel sped up.

“Six people for what now?” Lou asked, feeling like her plans with Gerty may unfortunately still be cancelled.

“I may have talked to Xandy last night,” Hazel said as she bent her elbows and moved her arms.

“You followed him home again.”

“No! Not this time. I politely asked him to drive me home.”

“And?”

“And... I might have exaggerated about how you begged that we all get a limo and go to prom together and how your happiness depends on him agreeing to it,” Hazel confessed in a rush.

“Hazel!”

“It’s the only way I can keep an eye on him!”

Lou glared at Hazel. She was too winded to argue. Other students passed by the pair. She looked over her shoulder and saw a few people still lagged behind. 

“Don’t you want his prom to be special? I can tell… he wants you to be there, unfortunately.”

“You can’t fool me, Hazel. You just want to use me to get to him.”

“True… But I thought you were his best friend. Wouldn’t you want your best friend happy?”

“... I am his best friend. Does he really want me to go?”

“You know he does. Which means you’ve got to text that twerp back.”

Lou’s pace slowed as she widened her eyes at Hazel. She said, “Wait. Twerp? Don’t tell me he’s an underclassman, Hazel.”

“I could tell you he’s not, but it’d be a lie. And you know how I feel about lies.”

“I suggest you run.”

“Toodles,” Hazel said before sprinting down the track.

Lou slowed her pace all the way to a stop. A guy who wasn’t far behind her didn’t pay attention to her decreasing speed and ran into her when she stopped. 

“Sorry,” he said quickly.

He had his hand on her back as he looked at her apologetically. She wished she wasn’t so sweaty or that she hadn’t left the orange juice stain on her gym shirt. She didn’t recognize him immediately, but she thought he was cute.

“I really should pay more attention,” he said as he let go of her and continued running down the track.

“I’m Lou,” she said too late. She winced. “And he’s already gone. Ugh, could this day get any worse?”

Hazel was ruining her Friday by making her text some random stranger to be her prom date and she couldn’t even remember her name in time to introduce herself to the cute guy on the track.

* * *

The school day was uneventful for Ravi, except for the embarrassing moment when he ran into the pretty young lady on the track during gym. He figured there was no way he could introduce himself to her now. Now he waited outside the car with Emma for Luke to arrive, so they could go home. She sat on top of the hood with her legs crossed and retold a story about her lunch with the prom committee. Ravi paced from tire to tire until his phone buzzed.

“See if it’s Luke,” Emma demanded when she heard the sound.

Ravi checked his phone and sighed. “Not Luke. It’s another message from a wrong number.” 

He handed her his phone. She read the message:

_Nope. Right number._

“Says it’s the right number,” Emma said as she handed the phone back to him.

“It’s not. See the first message. It looks like they’re asking me about prom,” Ravi said.

“Huh. Maybe it’s like a survey and they want your general opinion about proms,” Emma said.

“I doubt that’s a thing.”

Emma wiggled her fingers for him to give her back the phone. He handed it to her and she sent off her own message to the number with a heart emoji and a tiara emoji:

_Proms r awesome! Emma Ross 4 queen._

“That wouldn’t be my opinion,” Ravi said flatly after Emma read her message aloud. 

“How would you know? You’ve never even been to prom,” Emma replied as she scrolled through his phone. 

“If homecoming dances are any indication, then proms can’t be that exciting,” Ravi said as he leaned against the car.

“You’re only saying that cause you’ve never taken a date.”

“I made the effort for that not to be the case. But contrary to popular belief, finding a date is quite difficult,” Ravi said with his arms crossed.

Emma clicked her tongue. “Don’t be silly. No, it’s not. I’m asked on dates all the time.”

Ravi didn’t bother arguing with his sister. She lived a very different social life than him and he didn’t feel like trying to make her understand. He spent time with his family, he emailed his friends from his old school, and he took care of his pet Komodo dragon. That was his social life.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he replied flatly.

“O.M.G,” Emma gasped. She grinned and hopped off the car. She held his phone out for him to read the screen, “Looks like it wasn’t a survey after all.”

Ravi’s eyes widened at the message:

_Great! It’s a date. Will vote for Emma._

He snatched the phone from Emma’s hand and stared down at the screen. He said, “This has got to be some sort of mistake.”

Emma beamed and held her hands up to her cheeks. “Nope! I might actually be prom queen!” She did a twirl in the parking lot and hummed happily. “This is like junior year all over again!”

Luke walked up to the car to see Emma twirling and Ravi staring at his phone.

“What’d I miss?” He asked as he dropped his bag into the passenger’s seat.

“I’m going to be prom queen,” Emma said, as she opened the driver’s side door. “Oh, and Ravi got asked to prom.”

Luke stretched and kicked his feet up on the dashboard. He said, “Nice. I’m hungry. Can we grab food on the way home?”

“Sure, but nothing fried. I’ve got to keep this glow for the next two weeks,” Emma replied.

“But then that’s like no food, Emma,” Luke complained. He turned the radio on and moved to the music.

Ravi sat in the backseat silent, trying to comprehend what had happened.

* * *

Lou waited until the end of the school day to text the mystery number back. She had contemplated backing out, but then Xander spent the entire period in yearbook saying how happy he was that she was going to prom. She decided on the bus that she should get it over with, and so she sent a text that she had the right number. She was surprised by the response:

_Proms r awesome! Emma Ross 4 queen._

She chuckled and thought maybe the mystery person wouldn’t be so bad. If they were that excited about prom, then maybe they wanted to have a nice time and not make her miserable like Hazel had hoped. She sent another message:

_Great! It’s a date. Will vote for Emma._

For the rest of the bus ride home, she didn’t think about prom. She flipped through her notes for her Spanish class and listened to music. But a few hours after she got home, she started to worry. Prom was in two weeks and she had agreed to go with a complete stranger. A stranger that Hazel picked out to punish her. 

She sat on the couch in the living room and checked her phone for the eighth time. Friday nights meant movie nights with her best friend. But Xander had sent a message saying he was running behind because of baseball practice. She hoped he would get there soon so she could numb her brain with zombie movies and ice cream. Her phone rang and she answered it without checking who was calling.

“Hello?”

“Did you do it?” Hazel chirped.

Lou sighed and lifted her legs onto the couch. She stared up at the ceiling and answered, “Yes, I asked him to the dang dance.”

“Is he going or did you mess this up?”

Lou rolled her eyes. “He said yes. Happy?”

“Very.” 

Lou held the phone away from her ear as Hazel cackled happily.

“You’ll be miserable and Emma’s date with Xandy will be ruined.”

Lou got a sinking feeling in her gut. She had been worried that Hazel set her up with someone awful, and now that her frenemy was cackling it appeared that those worries were justified. 

“Who exactly am I going with?”

“Her dwebby brother! Haha! I win! Emma can’t get all cozy with Xandy if her little brother’s around.”

“That was your big plan,” Lou said as the pieces of Hazel’s scheme came together in her mind. She sat up on the couch. “You used me to make it a group date so that Xander would agree to be around you at prom. And you picked Emma’s brother to be my date to make her uncomfortable at the dance.”

“Yep! And it’ll totally work and Xander will be all mine.” 

“Does Branson know about your little plan?”

“Branson is a pawn. Oh, that reminds me. I’ve got to go. He’s taking me out on his boat.”

“Goodbye, Hazel,” Lou said in an annoyed tone. She ended the call.

Lou folded her legs beside her and rested her elbow on the arm of the couch. She tried to picture Emma’s brother, but she couldn’t. The Rosses were still new to the school, and she only saw Emma so much because of Xander. She picked up her phone and sent a message to the mystery number:

_Emma’s brother?_

Ten seconds later she had a reply.

_Yes._

So, it was Emma’s brother. Lou went to Emma’s Instagram page and scrolled through her photos, trying to pick out any familiar faces. There were a lot of photos, but they were mostly of Emma herself. Her sleuthing came to an end when she heard her mom let Xander into the house.

“Sorry, I’m late,” he said as he plopped down on the couch. He’d obviously showered before he arrived because his hair was dripping water on the back of the couch.

“No prob. But that means you have to make the popcorn.”

“Fair is fair,” he sighed as he moved to stand up.

“Hey, do you know Emma’s brother?”

Xander slouched back down into the couch cushions and nodded. “Luke? Yeah, he’s going to be on the team next year. He’s been practicing with us. He’s got some serious talent. Coach even let him play a little the last game.”

Lou tried to remember the players from the game Wednesday, but she could only think of the guys she already knew. 

“Did he mention anything about prom?” Lou asked.

“Uh… Oh yeah! He’s not really into prom. He’s going to the after party at Kim’s, though. And the one at the old mill. Probably the one at Mike’s too.” Xander replied. He got up from the couch. “Popcorn time. You got ice cream?”

“It’s not movie night without ice cream, Xander.”

Lou picked up the remote. She thought harder about the most recent baseball game. Suddenly, the new player’s face came to memory. He was there when she went to congratulate the guys on their win. They had all hung out in the parking lot after the game. She remembered him being kind of a goofball and Terrance’s girlfriend shamelessly hitting on him. But if he wasn’t into prom, then he couldn’t have been the one to agree to go to the dance with her. She stood up and went to the kitchen.

Xander was grabbing a bowl from a cabinet while the kernels popped in the microwave. 

“Does Emma have two brothers?” she asked.

He opened the freezer and took out the tub of ice cream. He said, “Yeah, I think. Hey, grab a scoop.”

Lou opened a drawer and took out the ice cream scoop. She asked, “You think?”

He removed the lid from the ice cream and took the scoop from her hand. “I mean, yeah, she does. Her brothers and sister are all adopted. Is this cookie dough?”

“Yes, it’s cookie dough. Which one is an underclassman?”

“Uh… Luke’s a junior. And… the other dude’s a sophomore.”

Lou grabbed two clean bowls and some spoons from the dishwasher and sat them beside the ice cream tub.

“Why?” Xander asked.

Lou tapped her spoon against her chin in thought as she said, “We’re… kinda going to prom together.”

* * *

Ravi was in the middle of his Friday night routine, doing homework in his room, when his phone buzzed. He glanced at the message and automatically replied:

_Emma’s brother?_

_Yes._

Several minutes ticked by before he closed his math book and returned to his cell phone. He thought over the message. Wasn’t it strange that the person waited until now to ask this message? Didn’t they know who they were asking to prom? Unless they thought he was someone else. Emma has two brothers. He facepalmed.

“I’m so stupid.”

His pet lizard hissed at him. She was relaxing on a cushion he had placed by the window for her. Ravi turned in his desk chair to face her.

“‘Emma’s brother,’ Mrs. Kipling?”

She hissed and swished her tail, slightly moving the curtain so more of the blue sky was visible.

“I should’ve suspected this mystery invitation to prom was for Luke.”

Ravi frowned. He had spent the entire car ride home in shock. The cynical side of him had suspected that it was a joke being played on the new kid. The optimistic side of him had hoped that someone had noticed him and wanted to spend time with him. By the time he arrived home, he had decided it would be best to put his prom thoughts on hold until after the weekend. With the arrival of the additional text, it didn’t look like he’d get to avoid it this weekend.

“I was right the first time. The message was sent to the wrong number. The invite is obviously for Luke.”

Mrs. Kipling hissed in response.

“I’ll prove it,” Ravi said. He stood up and walked over to the window. He leaned against the windowsill. He typed the message into his phone and sent it:

_Not Luke._

“There. I sent it,” Ravi said, showing the phone to his pet. “And now we wait for the apology reply and request for Luke’s number.”

He waited by the window for ten minutes, occasionally checking his phone for new messages. Soon he figured he wouldn’t be receiving an apology. The person had moved on. He tried to not let it hurt his feelings. The person was a complete stranger after all. But it did feel nice to feel noticed even if it was only for a short time. He sat down beside Mrs. Kipling and smiled at her.

“At least now I don’t have to worry about going on a date,” Ravi said. “The last time I had one of those I was in eighth grade.”

He spent the rest of the evening finishing his homework and watching a zombie movie. Afterward, Zuri asked him to drive her and her friends to the ice cream place downtown. She, like her older sister and oldest brother, was a social butterfly. He returned home around eight and went straight to bed. The next morning, he awoke to a message bubble on his phone:

_Match?_

He sat up and blinked the sleep crust out of his eyes. “Huh?” he questioned aloud.

His phone dinged and an image popped up on the screen. It was a green prom dress displayed in a storefront window. Confusion clouded his eyes as he stared down at the picture. He looked to Mrs. Kipling in her cage by the door. She hissed. He jumped when his phone dinged again, nearly falling off the edge of the bed.

_Saw it today. Will buy if green works 4 u._

He stared down at the message in confusion. He scrolled to make sure his message from the night before went through. It said delivered. But he wanted to be sure. He replied:

_I’m not Luke. I’m Emma’s other brother._

The reply came quickly:

_I know. So, match? Y/N_

Ravi felt like dancing. He jumped out of his bed and spun around.

“Mrs. Kipling, they know it’s me!” He cheered. But his smile fell when a wave of fear crashed over him. His eyes widened as he looked over at his lizard. “I have a date to prom.” He paced the room in panic. “This is terrible.” He suddenly remembered the image of the dress and gasped.

Mrs. Kipling hissed and crawled out of her cage. Ravi followed the lizard to Zuri’s room. Mrs. Kipling hissed again and kept moving down the hall. It was about the time when she checked the kitchen for her breakfast. Ravi opened the door to Zuri’s room and stuck his head in.

“Zuri?”

“Ever heard of knocking,” Zuri answered sarcastically. She was still in her pajamas but she was relaxing in a beanbag chair by her vanity. She had her tablet in her hand, playing a game.

“A girl wants my opinion on her outfit,” Ravi said as he stepped farther into the room.

“Tell Emma to pick out her own dumb clothes.”

“It’s not Emma.”

Zuri’s head shot up from her tablet. She saw his phone and waved her hand for him to pass it to her. She scrolled through the text messages.

“What does she look like?” Zuri asked, not looking up from the phone.

“I don’t know who she is,” Ravi answered honestly. 

Zuri narrowed her eyes and asked, “Is anybody at school picking on you?”

Ravi squirmed beneath her skeptical expression. “I don’t know… I don’t think so…”

“Okay,” Zuri said with a shrug, the skeptical expression erased and replaced with her neutral look. She typed back a message with a dress emoji: 

_Green works_

“What are you doing!” Ravi yelped as he knelt and read the message over her shoulder.

“Answering her question, duh,” Zuri replied. She typed and sent another message: 

_U kno I’m a sophomore_

“Why’d you type that? What if she changes her mind?” Ravi panicked. “What am I saying! This is a prank! I shouldn’t even be replying!”

“You’re giving off weird vibes, Ravi. Do you want to go to prom with this complete stranger or not?”

The phone dinged with another message with a smile emoji at the end: 

_Yes, I know. I’m a senior._

Ravi couldn’t help but feel a little relieved. If it really wasn’t a mistake or prank, he wanted the person to be aware that he’d be a sophomore at prom. 

“Look, she’s using emojis now,” Zuri said. She fired off another message and added a winky emoji: 

_So u think I’m cute_

“Zuri!”

Ravi snatched his phone away from his younger sister and stood.

“That messaging thread was weak,” Zuri said. “I’m eleven and I’ve seen more flirting.”

His phone sounded again. He jumped slightly and tossed it back to his sister. He said, “I can’t look.”

“It’s an eyeroll emoji,” Zuri said as she looked at the screen.

“Great, now she thinks I’m a creep,” Ravi said.

“She’s the one that asked you to prom,” Zuri replied. She tossed the phone back to Ravi and he barely caught it. “I’m bored now. Get out of my room.”

* * *

Lou spent her entire weekend working. She picked up extra hours at the pet store, did two babysitting gigs, and walked so many dogs that she smelled like dog biscuits by the end of Sunday night. But she still needed to save up for the part to fix her truck and now she had prom expenses.

On Monday morning, Xander had a cold. He called her and asked if she would use his car to drop his adopted brother, Griff, off at school because their parents had to work. She happily agreed. It was too dark out to walk, so Lou’s mom dropped her off at Xander’s on her way to the dairy plant where she worked. 

“Thanks for dropping me off,” Griff said to Lou during the ride to school.

“No prob. How’s school?”

“Good,” he said absentmindedly. He was smiling at a picture of a cute girl on his phone.

“Ooo! Who’s that?” Lou asked teasingly.

“Her name’s Zuri. She’s really cool. I got her number like the first day she joined my class.” His phone buzzed. He read the message and he reacted like he was ready to spring out of the car. He shouted, “Her sister’s dropping her off now. Hurry!”

“I’m hurrying,” Lou said calmly. “The school’s right there.”

“If I don’t hurry, then I won’t get there before Marsh. And if Marsh gets there before me, then I won’t get to walk with Zuri to class. Lou, he will walk her to class!”

“Relax, kiddo,” Lou said as she turned into the school drop-off lane. “We’re here. Marsh won’t get to walk Zuri.”

As they moved forward in line, Lou saw Zuri hop out of an expense-looking car. She pulled up to the curb and Griff pushed his door open.

“See you, Lou!” he shouted as he ran to his friend.

“Have a good day,” Lou called after him. She had to stretch over and shut his door correctly.

When she sat up, she saw the expensive-looking car circle around and pass her. In the driver’s seat was Emma. There were two other guys in the car with her. She strained her neck to get a better look at them over her shoulder, but it was no use. The car behind her honked its horn.

“Alright! I’m moving; I’m moving,” she shouted.

She drove to school and parked near the building. She sat in the car and looked around to see if she saw the expensive car near her. She didn’t. She pulled out her phone and went to Emma’s Instagram. All the selfie pictures from before were there, but she scrolled farther this time to search for group photos.

“So, if Zuri is Emma’s sister,” Lou mumbled to herself, “then pictures with Zuri must be family pics.”

Lou finally found a picture of the four siblings. Zuri and Emma were wearing matching hats. She recognized the guy from the baseball game last week, Luke. He was making a funny face at the camera. She looked at the other guy in the picture. Her heart fluttered when she recognized him as the cute guy who ran into her during gym last week. She thought harder and realized that he must’ve been the guy sitting with Emma at the baseball game last week. 

“Dang it, why didn’t I go down there Wednesday,” she fussed to herself. “I could’ve already met him and got his number myself.”

She looked up at the rear-view mirror and saw the expensive-looking car go by. She watched it park a few cars down. Lou got out and leaned against the front of the car. She fixed her hair a little and then pretended to be busy with her phone.

“Luke, I’m never driving you to school again if you let out another butt bomb like that,” Emma complained as she and Luke walked towards Lou.

“You’re the one who stopped for breakfast burritos,” Luke replied.

Emma spotted Lou and waved. “Hey, Lou!” 

Luke noticed her too and nodded his greeting.

Lou smiled and waved. The two siblings continued towards the school, bickering over burritos. Lagging behind, their brother walked by, holding on to the straps of his backpack. He noticed her and gave her a small smile.

“Hi,” she said sweetly.

“Hello,” he said as he continued toward the building.

Her ears tingled and her face heated up. She couldn’t believe it. It was the voice at her locker the other day. She couldn’t stop herself. She typed a quick message and sent it:

_Yes._

She saw him pause at the door and check his phone. He looked around in confusion. He bent his head down and typed. Her phone buzzed and she read the message:

_Yes?_

She smirked and sent back a reply with a winky emoji:

_Very cute._

He looked around again and she had to hold in a laugh. She watched him give up and go inside the building.

* * *

Lou and Hazel had an exam in their history class, so there wasn’t any time for talking. Though Lou did let Hazel know that Xander was out sick. When the yearbook committee went over assignments for completing the final pages, Lou made sure Xander’s picks were known. Her morning was otherwise boring, but she did think about prom. Last week she had been so worried about who Hazel picked that she was almost dreading the dance. Now she was almost excited. She knew it didn’t make sense. She didn’t know anything about Emma’s brother except that he was cute. But that was enough to make her interested in going.

During lunch, Lou worked on her Spanish homework and munched on carrots that her mom had grown in their backyard. She didn’t even flinch when Hazel dropped down in the seat beside her and stuck out her hand.

“Eighty bucks,” Hazel said with her palm up. 

“One carrot,” Lou replied, as she put the vegetable in the open palm.

Hazel stuck the carrot in her lunchbox and explained, “It’s for you and your date’s spot in the limo.”

“You mean the limo I didn’t ask for? This dance that I didn’t intend to go to sure is costing me a lot of money,” Lou grumbled. She opened a cash transfer app on her phone to send Hazel the money. “I already have to buy a dress, pay for dinner…” 

“Boo hoo. It’s just one night,” Hazel said as she checked her phone for the transfer.

“An expensive night. I might need to sell some of the furniture I made over the summer for more cash,” Lou said. “And I still need to fix my truck.”

She flipped to an empty page in her notebook and wrote down some of the items she’d made. Her eyes flickered up and she saw the guy from earlier. He was leaving the lunch line with a tray in his hands. She could feel the dopey smile on her face.

“There’s your dweeby date now,” Hazel snorted.

Lou watched him walk over to a table near the back of the cafeteria. He sat his tray down and took a seat. He opened up the book that he had tucked under his arm. She wondered what it was about.

“We don’t know if he’s dweeby,” Lou said.

Hazel scrunched her nose. “Blech. He’s in the science club. Who joins the science club with a month of school left?”

“People with hobbies?”

“Nerds.”

Lou tried to finish her list, but her attention kept going back to the guy across the room. So far, she knew he was Emma’s youngest brother. She knew he was in the science club. And that was about it. 

“So… what’s his name?” Lou asked.

Hazel looked at Lou in disbelief. She said, “Don’t tell me you don’t know his name.”

“You never told me. You just gave me a number.”

“Haven’t you been texting him?” 

“Just the basics. Like will he go to the dance with me.”

“Seriously, Lou. You’re hopeless. That’s Ravi Ross, nerd extraordinaire. He’s in my advanced functions and modeling class.”

Lou raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that for seniors? He’s a sophomore.”

“Again. Nerd.”

“So, he’s smart,” Lou mumbled, looking over at him again.

“He actually writes on the back of his notebooks ‘If found please call blah blah blah.’ That’s how I got his number,” Hazel explained. She took the carrot out of her lunchbox and munched on it.

“Ravi Ross,” Lou said his name again like it was a fancy dessert that she had never had but wanted to order.

“You’re saying it wrong,” Hazel said. “It’s more like ‘Ravi Ross’,” she said blandly. “Not like he’s the last slice of cheesecake at a pricey restaurant.”

“I should probably get back to my homework,” Lou said, looking back down at her notebook.

Hazel shrugged in response and took out her phone. 

Lou flipped back to the page her assignment was on. She tried to focus but all she could think about was talking to the guy across the room. She tapped her pencil against the notebook. It made sense for her to want to know more about him. She knew she’d be taking a stranger to the dance, but he didn’t have to remain a stranger. She figured she may as well get some insight on how their date will be by talking to him at least once.

“I’m going to go talk to him,” Lou said to Hazel.

Hazel looked over at Ravi and then back at Lou. “Getting desperate, huh? Tired of hanging out with farm animals on Saturday nights?”

“You’re dating Branson,” Lou retorted. “And he’s the worst.”

“He has a boat, Lou.”

“We don’t know if Ravi doesn’t have a boat.”

“Ew, I don’t want to go on a boat with Ravi,” Hazel said with a grimace. 

Lou was tired of the back and forth. She wanted to go talk to her prom date. She gasped and said, “Is that Xander walking by?”

“Where! He’s feeling better!” 

Hazel hopped up and sprinted toward the cafeteria doors. Lou exhaled and collected her books. She grabbed her little bag of carrots and made her way over to Ravi’s table.

“Howdy, I’m Lou,” she said.

He looked up from his book and gave her a friendly smile. She thought he had a nice smile.

“I’m Ravi.”

He motioned at the seat across from him. She sat down and put her books on the table.

“I know,” she said. “You’re kinda my date for prom.”

Ravi’s face lit up. “You? You’re the person behind the messages. How? Why? Uh, thanks.”

Lou was encouraged by his positive response. He seemed genuinely surprised but not in a bad way. Her shoulders relaxed and she let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

“My frenemy Hazel is the how… and the why actually,” Lou said casually.

“Hazel? Hazel Swearington?” Ravi asked with his eyebrows bunched in confusion. “She’s always chasing after that really popular guy, Xander, right?”

“That’s her,” Lou replied, wagging her finger. She wasn’t sure why she was wagging her finger. But it felt right at the time. “She gave me your number and forced me to ask you to prom.” 

She felt the shift in the mood as soon as the words left her mouth. Every alarm in her head was screaming that she was an idiot. Her eyes widened and she shook her head and waved her hands.

“Not forced!”

Ravi glared at her and said nothing.

“It sounds bad when I say it like that,” Lou said, dropping her hands to her lap.

“It is bad,” Ravi replied sternly. “I don’t know why Hazel and yourself are picking on me…”

“We’re not,” Lou said quickly. “She just wanted to use you to ruin your sister’s date with Xander.”

She literally slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from talking. But the damage was already done.

“I’m leaving now,” Ravi said harshly. He stood up with his book and his tray. “Consider our date cancelled.”

Lou watched helplessly as he walked away. She couldn’t believe how quickly the whole thing had crashed and burned.

* * *

Ravi had his advanced functions and modeling class after lunch. He sat in his usual seat at the front of the classroom. When he saw Hazel Swearington walk in, he glared at her. He couldn’t believe that even though she hadn’t said more than five words to him, she had decided to pick on him with that mean, but attractive, senior. Hazel saw his glare, stuck her tongue out at him, and continued to her seat in the middle of the classroom.

He frowned and faced forward to look at the board. The teacher began the lesson, but Ravi wasn’t really paying attention. He felt stupid for falling for their stupid prank. He should’ve known something was up, but he let his desire to be noticed override his instincts. He discreetly took out his phone and placed it inside his math book. He opened the text messages from Lou:

_Yes._

_Yes?_

_Very cute._

He rolled his eyes. Why would they waste their time picking on him like this? Weren’t they seniors? Didn’t they have better things to do with their time? And when Lou introduced herself, she seemed so nice. He looked at the picture of the green dress that she sent him. It made him angry that now that he actually knew that she was the young lady from the baseball game, he knew that she would look good in the stupid dress. He turned the phone over and went back to blankly staring at the board.

Time dragged on. He wondered if he should tell Emma and Luke about the prank. It was already embarrassing that he fell for it; he didn’t want to admit it to his cool siblings, too. His phone buzzed and he froze. He looked up at his teacher, but she was talking about the problem on the board. She had a commanding voice that she projected like an opera singer. He flipped his phone back over and saw the message with a sad face emoji:

_...hi_

He clenched his jaw and looked up at the sky. He didn’t want to be bothered by this anymore. He checked over his shoulder to see if Hazel was watching him, enjoying his being bullied. But she wasn’t watching him. She was twirling pencils with Harry Potter pencil toppers into her hair. He sent a reply message:

_Leave me alone, Lou._

Her reply came quickly:

_Can we talk?_

_No._

_Let me explain._

_Please lose my number._

He put his phone in his bag and returned to staring at the board.

* * *

Outside on the field, Hazel and Lou stretched for gym class. Hazel wore one of Xander’s old gym uniform t-shirts that she had stolen from his car. Lou made sure her own t-shirt was stain free. She saw Ravi drinking water over by the fence. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed him this whole time.

“How’d it go with your new boyfriend?” Hazel asked as she reached for the toe of her sneaker.

“He hates me.” 

Lou looked over her shoulder and saw him looking in her direction. She waved at him and he turned away with his nose in the air. She frowned.

“You know this is all your fault, Hazel. You couldn’t just let Xander have one night of peace.”

“Why do you even care if the shrimp hates you or not?” 

“I don’t care,” Lou said unconvincingly. 

The gym teacher blew her whistle and shouted for everyone to run.

“Besides, I have a new plan,” Hazel said.

“Keep it to yourself,” Lou said. She stood up and raced toward the track.

Hazel caught up with her. She said, “I call it Plan Make Xandy Jealous So That He Falls in Love with Me and We Get Married and Have A Son Named Armando. Good right?”

“Wouldn’t you rather just find a guy that likes you without a devious plan?”

“No,” Hazel snorted. “And you’re trying to get with the guy I used in my original devious plan.”

“I’m not trying to get him.”

Lou glanced over her shoulder and saw him running a few feet behind them. She turned back to Hazel.

“I just want to apologize,” Lou said.

“Gross. You’re into him,” Hazel said between breaths.

“Am not! I don’t even know him.”

“Sounds like you want to,” Hazel said. She looked to see what the gym teacher was doing. She said, “Coach Johnson isn’t looking. I’m so out of here. I’ve got to check on Xandy.”

Lou watched Hazel run off toward the bleachers and slip away from class. Three students passed her on the track while she was lost in thought. Now that Hazel had a new plan, was she free to go without a date? Did she still want a date? Her pace had slowed. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ravi pass her.

“Ravi!”

She picked up her pace and ran alongside him. He was a slow runner it seemed, so it was easy to keep up with him. She was grateful for that. By the look on his face, he probably would’ve sped off if he could out run her.

“Hi,” she greeted him.

“Hello,” he said in monotone.

“So, uh… nice weather we’re having,” Lou said awkwardly.

Ravi stopped running. Lou stumbled a little when she noticed him stop. She turned back and walked up to him.

“Look, it’s already hard enough being the new kid at school. I don’t need a bully, too,” Ravi said angrily.

Lou gave him a hurt expression, and it made his eyes soften. He still looked angry, though.

“I’m not a bully. I’m sorry, Ravi.”

The gym teacher blew her whistle. She shouted at them to get moving. Ravi picked up a slow jog. Lou jogged beside him.

“Why oh why is running a thing,” Ravi huffed. “Can’t we play like dodgeball or something.”

Lou wanted to chuckle but she knew he was still upset with her. She said, “Ravi, what I said was stupid.”

“No, what you did was stupid,” he said.

“Ouch,” she said in offense.

“Do you want me to sugarcoat it? I mean, your friend dared you to ask out a stranger and you didn’t think the stranger would have feelings?” He breathed heavily. “No. More. Talking.”

“I guess it never occurred to me that you’d have any feelings about the situation,” Lou said. “I was just worried Hazel was matching me up with a creep.”

Ravi inhaled and exhaled through his nose. He didn’t respond.

“We can’t talk like this,” Lou said. She looked over at Coach Johnson and then back at Ravi. She said, “Faint, so we can get out of here.”

He gave her a look and said, “Don’t want to faint. Wheezing bad enough.”

“Just pretend, Ravi… I’ll catch you. I promise.”

He gave her a wary look but she just returned it with a small smile. He sighed and nodded. She slowed her pace more so that she ended up behind him.

“I’m trusting you,” he said before he stopped and fell backward.

Lou caught him with ease. She shouted for the gym teacher. “Coach Johnson! Ravi passed out!”

The gym teacher sprinted over with water. Once Ravi heard the teacher’s voice, he fluttered his eyes open.

“Should I take him inside?” Lou asked the teacher.

“Young man, can you make it inside?” the coach asked in concern.

Ravi nodded as he leaned against Lou. The teacher dismissed them and Ravi limped into the building with his arm around Lou’s shoulder. Once they got inside, he took his arm away. Lou watched him get a drink from the water fountain before sitting on the bleachers in the empty gymnasium. She sat beside him, at a distance.

“Sorry for making you sorta skip gym,” Lou said. “I… just needed to talk to you.”

Ravi looked over at her. His expression was no longer angry, but neutral. He asked, “Why?”

“I don’t want you to think I’m a bully. I’m not. And you’re right, I should’ve thought about your feelings. Regardless if you’re a stranger or not,” Lou said. 

The air conditioning inside the gymnasium was cooling. She hoped she didn’t look like a sweaty mess, but it was hard not to look that way after running. Ravi quietly stared up at the banners along the wall. For a while she didn’t think he’d talk to her, but finally he spoke.

“So, what was exactly Hazel’s plan?” he asked.

Lou stretched her legs out on the bleacher and sighed. “Her having a plan should’ve been my first clue to bail. But I didn’t. Let’s see… First she wanted to get back at me for convincing Xander to ask Emma to prom.”

“You told Xander to ask Emma to prom?” Ravi asked with his eyes wide.

“Don’t worry. That wasn’t a prank or whatever you’re thinking. Xander’s into Emma, but he’s a big chicken. I made him ask her because I’m his best friend and I know he’s already totally in love with her.”

Ravi let out a breath. “Good,” he said. “Because she really likes him.” He scooted back so that his back could lean against the step of the bleachers. “And asking me to prom would get back at you?”

“I’m pretty sure asking you had more to do with part two of her plan. She wanted the six of us, me, you, Emma, Xander, Hazel, and her date to hang out at prom. She figured Emma would be uncomfortable if her brother was on her group date. That way Emma couldn’t make any moves on Xander, and Hazel would have Xander ‘all to herself’.”

Ravi snorted. “That plan would’ve failed. Emma couldn’t care less about me being at prom. She knows that I know better than to get in her way. The woman is terrifying.”

Lou chuckled. She saw him smile and it eased the guilt she had been feeling. 

“Why did you agree to go along with it?” Ravi asked.

“I don’t know… Xander wanted me to go to prom. Hazel, in her own weird way, wanted me to go to prom. Heck, maybe even some small part of me wanted to go. I know it’s weird. The whole thing’s weird.”

Ravi shrugged and said, “I can’t judge you too harshly. I was willing to go to prom with a total stranger because I haven’t made any friends yet.”

“You’re a sophomore, Ravi. You have plenty of time to make friends your junior and senior year. Besides, there’s only like four weeks of school left.”

“That’s easy to say when your brother and sister aren’t instantly the most popular kids in school,” Ravi said with a frown.

Lou thought for a moment. At this point, she was free to spend prom night trying to get Gerty her goat to paint. It was her original plan, after all. But prom had become much more appealing. If she could salvage their date, she wanted to try. She got up and sat beside Ravi. She mimicked his posture so that her back also rested against the step.

“You know… You’d probably earn a lot of street cred if you went to the prom,” Lou said. “The underclassman in the science club will definitely remember. Plus, I can make sure that our picture ends up in the yearbook.”

He smiled. “How’d you know I was in the science club?”

“It’s literally the only thing I know about you. That and… you know.”

He shook his head and looked at her curiously. “I don’t know. What?”

“You’re cute.”

She felt embarrassed all of a sudden. This was much easier to do over text messages. But she persisted. “So… are you interested?” He was staring at her with an unreadable expression. “In prom?”

“You still want to go?” He stammered out. “Even though your friend’s plan won’t work?”

“I never cared about Hazel’s stupid plan,” Lou said. “But you’re nice. And… if it’ll help you make friends.” 

She did want him to make friends, and she did think going to prom with her would help. She could introduce him to some of the juniors that would be there. And she knew some underclassmen were bound to show up to at least one after party. But mostly, she knew Hazel was right: she wanted to get to know him.

“You’re serious?” He grinned. “Wow, you’re really asking. I can’t believe you’re asking… You’re so…”

Lou raised her eyebrows and asked, “I’m so…”

“Yes, my answer is yes,” Ravi stuttered.

“Awesome,” Lou said happily. 

“Awesome,” Ravi parroted.

“I hope you like to dance, cause I love dancing,” Lou said. “I’ll try to get the DJ to play a square-dancing jam, but I doubt he will.”

“I’m equally horrible at all forms of dancing, but I’m a willing participant,” Ravi said and it made Lou laugh.

“So, how do you like our school so far?” Lou asked. Now that he was no longer mad at her, she wanted to keep the conversation going. “Have you had the meatloaf surprise yet?”

At the sound of the gymnasium door opening, they turned to see the gym teacher. She asked if Ravi was okay, and she called Lou outside to finish her run.

* * *

After Ravi’s last class of the day, he went to his locker to swap out his books. The hallway emptied out pretty quick at the end of day. He was surprised when Emma strolled up to him with a card in her hand.

“Look what I made in art class!”

The front of the card had Xander’s name written neatly in cursive letters. Inside, was an elaborate sketch of a dress.

Emma bounced on her toes and said, “It’s a design for my prom dress. I thought it’d make a good get well soon card.”

Ravi searched the card, flipping it over, and said, “But it doesn’t say get well.”

“Well he’ll know that I’ll have an awesome dress for prom and that might make him feel better,” Emma said. She frowned as she took the card back from her brother. “How should I give him the card?”

Emma’s eyes scanned the hall. She saw Lou turn the corner and walk in their direction. She called out to her.

“Lou!”

Ravi felt a nervous energy buzzing inside of him as Lou smiled at them and walked over. Emma showed Lou her card, and Lou praised her drawing skills. Ravi tried to think of something friendly to say to Lou. He had enjoyed their conversation in the gymnasium once he cleared up the fact that she wasn’t picking on him. She seemed nice and he wanted to know more about her. But he couldn’t think of anything, so he let his sister talk.

“I wish I could give him the card,” Emma said to Lou with a frown. “I’ve been texting him during class that I miss him.”

“Oh brother,” Ravi muttered, earning a slight shove from Emma. 

“What? You’re not a romantic, Ravi?” Lou asked jokingly.

“I… I, uh…” he said. He wanted to disappear.

“Please. Ravi’s idea of a date is cleaning up after his pet lizard,” Emma joked.

Lou chuckled and Ravi wanted to shove his sister inside one of the lockers behind him. He knew it’d never happen because she was much taller, stronger, and tougher than him.

“Then we must have the same taste in dates,” Lou said with a smile. “I work at a pet store, so cleaning up after animals is how I spend a lot of my evenings.”

“Cool,” Ravi said not at all casually. 

Emma leaned over and said lowly to her brother. “Relax, dude.”

“I have Xander’s car today,” Lou said to Emma. “Why don’t you come with me to his house. You can give him the card. I can take you to your house afterward.”

Emma turned to Ravi and asked, “Can you drive Luke home?” He nodded and she beamed. She turned back to Lou and said, “Thanks, Lou!”

“Anything for love,” Lou said good-naturedly. 

“You are just too adorable, Lou,” Emma said. She turned to her brother. “Isn’t she adorable?”

“Yeah, aren’t I adorable,” Lou said with a glint in her eye. 

He knew she was flirting. He was just so out of practice that he couldn’t think of any clever responses. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish.

“He knows you are,” Emma said, saving him. “And all of us are going to have the best time at prom.”

Lou and Ravi both gave Emma shocked looks.

“You, you know about… us,” Ravi stammered out. “I mean about us going to prom.”

Emma rolled her eyes and neatly placed her card in her bag. “Obvi, Ravi. Xander’s Lou’s best friend. He text me the other night saying she was going with my brother. And you’re the one who showed me your phone with the prom invite. Only Lou would be sweet enough to take the new kid to prom.”

“You’ve only been here as long as I have,” Ravi argued.

“Oh,” Lou said, dragging out the word as she leaned against the lockers. “Now I remember, during ice cream I said we were going to prom.”

Emma took out her phone and went through her messages. She didn’t look up as she asked, “Yeah, how did you two even meet?”

Ravi and Lou looked at each other with wide eyes. He didn’t want his sister to know the original version of their story. Where Hazel had a plan to ruin prom for Emma and used Lou and Ravi as pawns. But he wasn’t good at cover stories. He didn’t tend to sneak out or break rules, so he didn’t have practice. He was still dealing with the guilt of pretending to faint in gym class earlier that day.

“Hazel gave me his number,” Lou said shakily. “She said he was smart.” She laughed nervously, “Guess she was right, cause he said yes.”

Emma chuckled. “That’s too cute.”

Lou leaned away from the lockers and said, “You want to get going, Emma?” Emma nodded. Lou said to Ravi, “Call me later?”

He was stunned. He knew it was silly to be so affected by those three words after all that they had been through that day, but he was. The nervous energy bubbled over and he giggled. He giggled like a flattered maiden. Emma shook her head and tugged on Lou’s elbow to lead her down the hall.

“Get it together, Ravi,” Emma said. “Bye!”

* * *

Lou did not regret taking Emma to Xander’s. His eyes lit up as soon as they walked into his room even though his nose was stuffy and red. He was in pajamas with little bears on them, and Lou and Emma made fun of him until his pouting turned to laughing. Lou wanted to ask Emma questions about her brother, but she didn’t want to interrupt the budding couple’s time together. 

After their visit, Lou dropped Emma off home, took Xander’s car back to his house, walked home, got the keys to her mom’s car and went straight to her babysitting gig at five. The kid wanted to do an obstacle course, so by the time she got to her next gig at eight, she was beyond tired. Lucky for her, she only had to watch the kid sleep until their parents got home at ten. At some point, her phone died and she couldn’t find her charger. By the time she got home and did her homework, it was 1 a.m. She fell asleep wearing the same clothes she’d been in all day.

When she woke up the next morning, she charged her phone and groaned when she saw two missed calls from Ravi.

“Stupid, stupid,” she said to herself as she smacked her forehead. “Always have an extra phone charger!”

She sent him a text with an angel emoji as she ate her cereal:

_Phone died._

It was still early, so she didn’t expect to get a message back. She finished getting dressed and went outside to wait for Xander. Her phone buzzed:

_Cool. Good Morning!_

Relief washed over her as she read the message. She was worried that he would think she was ghosting him or worse, pranking him. She had really wanted to talk to him yesterday, but her day was so hectic. She sent him another message:

_Yesterday was crazy. 2 babysitting gigs._

_Wow! That’s work ethic. On a school night at that._

Xander honked his horn. She hadn’t noticed him pull up. She slid into the backseat, greeting Xander and Griff as she got in. She sent another message with a smile emoji:

_Prom isn’t cheap._

_I can help chip in._

_I asked you. It’s fine. I don’t mind._

Lou spent homeroom using Kim’s laptop to finish her history essay. She had crawled to bed last night before writing a conclusion. In history class, groups B and D gave their presentations. Lou’s group had already gone. She took out her phone and saw a message from Ravi:

_What do prom costs entail?_

She sent back a reply with a winged money emoji:

_Tickets Limo Dinner Dress Those flower thingys and Entry for the old mill_

_Oh my! I don’t even know what 2 of those are_

_There’s a lot of babysitting working and gigs in my future for the next 2 weeks_

_Is that why you never go with the other seniors during lunch?_

_That and I’m saving for a part to fix my truck. I’ve almost got enough!_

_Let me help with prom, Lou_

_No! I can do it. Stop texting in class._

When Lou walked into the cafeteria, she saw Ravi standing by the table that she usually sat at. Just the sight of him made her heart do flips. She walked up to him and smiled.

“Hey,” she said. She looked for his tray but saw none. “Whatcha doing?”

He held up Emma’s car keys and said, “I’m taking you to lunch. And before you argue, I want to. You’re working so hard to fine and dine me, I can at least take you to McDonald’s.”

“You know that’s not the expression, right?” Lou said with a laugh that made her eyes bright.

“No, I’m pretty sure it is. You’re going to take me in a limo and take me to a nice restaurant and buy me flowers. I feel special already,” he joked.

“You should. Cause last night one of the kids threw up on me.”

“Even more reason for me to take you to lunch,” Ravi said. “Besides, I want to spend time with you. It’s only twenty minutes, but still.”

Her face heated and she felt herself leaning closer to him. She asked, “Really?”

“Yeah… even if it’ll give a tummy ache afterward.”

“We don’t have to do McDonald’s. There’s a sandwich shop close by that I like better.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Ravi said as he held his stomach. “I’ve got a really sensitive stomach. And the fact that sophomores aren’t technically supposed to leave campus doesn’t help.”

“Aren’t you the rule breaker,” Lou said in a flirty tone.

He gave her a bashful smile as he mumbled, “Let’s go.”

She had to keep her arms folded behind her back to resist reaching out and holding his hand.

* * *

The rest of the week went by too quickly in Ravi’s opinion. Each day he would start his morning with a text message to Lou; he would then have lunch with her in the cafeteria; and he would always drink plenty of water throughout the day so that he could keep up with running with her during gym. To him, it was the best week he had experienced since his family moved to town. He learned about her beloved truck that her grandfather passed down to her. He learned about her dog, Hank. He learned that when she thought he had said something cute she’d narrow her eyes at him and smirk. His flirting had even improved. He was having a great time.

He was staring absentmindedly out the window in the backseat of Emma’s car on Friday afternoon when his siblings got inside. 

“We need to line up our schedules for prom night,” Luke said. He typed something on his phone then threw it into his bag. “You and Ravi are going to the mill after the dance, right?”

Ravi blinked. He normally tuned out their chatter, but today he decided to pay attention.

“No, we’re going to Kim’s after the dance,” Emma said as she put on her seatbelt. “We’re doing the mill last.”

“Not happening,” Luke objected. “I’m doing the mill last. By that time, everything good should be happening. I can’t have you two there messing up my vibe.”

“We don’t care about your vibe,” Emma snorted. “You’ll probably need to take Ravi home before then anyway.”

“What! I’m not babysitting,” Luke sputtered. 

“Babysitting?” Ravi asked with his eyebrows bunched in confusion.

“Well I don’t want to watch him the whole night,” Emma argued back. “And did you ever think I might want to spend time with just Xander. You can’t even pick one girl!”

“Dude, isn’t his date like eighteen. Why can’t she drop him off?”

“Because, Luke, she might want to stay out and party. This is her senior year, too. Gosh, you’re so clueless,” Emma said, rolling her eyes.

“You’re so annoying!” Luke said, frustrated at Emma.

“What are you two talking about?” Ravi raised his voice to ask over their arguing.

“Don’t worry about Luke, Ravi,” Emma said as she glanced at her brother in the rear-view mirror. She drove out of the school parking lot. “He will make sure you get home.”

Luke muttered and slouched in the passenger’s seat.

Emma continued, “After prom, we’re going to some after parties. I know you hate parties, but you should at least go to Kim’s with us. I know Kim and Lou are friends and since Lou’s your date, you know, you should go. Her party should be pretty chill.”

“It’ll just be a bunch of stupid make out games and karaoke,” Luke muttered.

“Don’t scare him,” Emma said, swatting Luke’s arm.

“Ow! I didn’t say he had to make out with her or sing karaoke!”

“The point is he hates parties, Luke,” Emma said. She thought out loud, “Maybe we can have the limo drop him off home.”

“I don’t hate parties,” Ravi said.

“I never saw you at any,” Emma said innocently.

“I’m never invited to any,” Ravi said flatly. He thought for a moment and added, “Well, I did attend a number of reptile club socials at our old school.”

“You hear that, Luke. ‘Reptile club socials,’” Emma said. “The dance is one thing, but Ravi’s not ready for parties.” She slowed to a stop at a red light. “Don’t you remember Langston’s party? With the fireworks and that eel in the pool everyone thought was electric. Ravi’s not ready to witness stuff like that. He’s never been out past ten or even kissed anyone.”

“Hey!” Ravi said in offense. He couldn’t argue against either statement, though.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere, Emma! It’s not going to be that crazy,” Luke said. “Worst case scenario for him is that he ends up in a closet with his date.”

“What?” Ravi asked, confused. “Why would I be in a closet?”

Emma and Luke both gave him blank looks.

“See what I mean,” Emma said to Luke.

Luke’s phone buzzed. He reached down and took it out of his bag to read the message. “Scratch that. Eric’s bringing four wheelers to the mill and I’m seeing a lot of reference to this word I haven’t seen before… but context makes me retract my prior statement about things not getting crazy.”

Ravi stayed silent. He tuned out his siblings as he lost himself in thought. Emma and Luke were right. The rowdiest thing he had ever done was keep an overdue library book. He hadn’t thought about his lack of social experience being an issue for next Saturday. And Lou was two years older than him. Would she regret asking him to prom when his big brother has to take him home early?

* * *

Ravi sat in the kitchen Saturday morning, munching on toast when his phone buzzed. He had spent the night before thinking of ways to back out of going to the dance with Lou. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but he didn’t want to embarrass her either. He thought surely she would be humiliated if her date had to have his big brother and big sister protect his delicate sensibilities at every party they went to. He sighed and read the message:

_Busy?_

He felt like sunshine flooded his being and he couldn’t help but smile. The problem with trying to come up with an excuse to cancel their date was that he adored spending time with her. He replied:

_Good morning! Not at all._

_Pick me up? I need to get my prom dress._

His mood shifted slightly. He was still excited to hang out with her, but the mention of prom made his stomach uneasy. He replied:

_Ok_

_Great! I’m ready whenever. Here’s my address._

He did a mental checklist of all his family members whom he could ask for advice. Luke was at the batting cages with their dad. His mom was in New York for the weekend. Zuri went with Emma to Xander’s. He thought for such a large family, no one seemed to be home at the same time. He was on his own.

When he picked her up, she was bubbly and friendly as usual. She had on her uniform for the pet store because she had to work afterward. He tried to seem as normal as possible, responding to her questions and laughing at her stories. However, he thought she may have sensed something was wrong, because she grew quiet near the end of the drive.

They got to the store and the green dress was still in the display window. Lou asked if anyone else had asked about the dress, but the salesperson assured her that she would be the only young lady at prom wearing the dress. Ravi waited by the mirrors and round-seating area until she tried on the dress. He sat there, worrying. When she finally came out, he felt his heart slamming against his chest. He got to his feet.

“Whoa,” he said breathlessly.

She smoothed down the sides of the dress and looked herself over in the mirror. She waved some stray strands of hair out of her face and asked, “How’s it look.”

“I can’t go to prom with you,” Ravi said suddenly.

She took a step back as if his words had shoved her. Her expression morphed from hurt to anger. 

“That’s so mean, Ravi. You can just say that I don’t look nice in the dress,” Lou said angrily. She turned her back on him and looked in the mirror. “And I think I look mighty nice, thank you.”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Ravi said quietly. He looked her reflection in the eyes. “You look beautiful.” He shifted his gaze away and sat back down. “That’s why I can’t go with you.”

Lou walked over and sat beside him. She asked, “What are you talking about, Ravi?”

“I don’t want to embarrass you, Lou. You deserve to look beautiful at the prom with someone… more like you.”

Lou bunched her eyebrows in confusion and shook her head. “What? Someone like me?”

Ravi lifted his gaze to her and said, “Yeah. Lou, you’re a senior with lots of friends and a social life and curves everywhere. And I’m… a sophomore with a pet lizard and overdue library books and whose last date was in the eighth grade.”

Realization washed over Lou’s expression. She nodded and said, “So, you’re younger than me. And so, you’re a little inexperienced. I don’t care about any of that. I think you’re funny and nice and cute. And I think we’d have fun at prom together.”

“But what about after parties? And the mill…”

Lou put her hand on his shoulder. The multitude of lights in the dress shop shone brightly. Glitter and sequins sparkled all around the store.

“We don’t have to go to a single party after prom if you don’t want to,” Lou said in sincerity. “Honestly, the mill will probably end up being even too sketchy for me. But the important thing is that I want to spend time with you.”

“Really?”

“Yes! We are going to have a nice dinner, and laugh, and dance. Then I promise that I’ll drop you off at your house by ten and it’ll be the best prom ever.”

Ravi glanced at her hand that was still on his shoulder. He looked into her eyes and asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said softly. Her eyes flickered down to his lips. She cleared her throat and looked away, removing her hand from his shoulder. “I hope that’s not weird, me wanting to spend time with you. We barely know each other.”

He placed his hand over her hand on the bench. He looked up at her and said, “I think we’ve learned a lot about each other. And I look forward to learning more about you.” He interlocked their fingers.

“Does that mean you’ll still go to prom with me?”

“Yes,” he smiled.

“Good,” Lou said as she looked at herself in the mirror. “Cause I look really good in this dress.”

“You really do,” he said. “I honestly think you’re giving me heart palpitations.”

She laughed and it erased all of his previous worries.

* * *

It was Tuesday afternoon and Lou couldn’t wait for Ravi to get out of his science club meeting. She had finally saved up enough money for the part for her truck and had it fixed Monday night. Her cousin was the mechanic so he brought it to the school for her so she could drive it once the day was over. 

“Is this the truck?” Ravi asked in a cheerful tone.

Lou lifted her head from her phone. She had been leaning against the tailgate. Her heart did a somersault as he walked up to her. She didn’t think she’d ever get tired of that feeling. Or the way he hugged her in greeting, which he had started doing Sunday when he stopped by the pet store to see her.

“Ain’t she a beaut,” Lou said proudly.

Ravi hugged her and stepped back to inspect the truck. 

He nodded and said, “Indeed, she is. Did you wait for me to get out of my science club meeting?”

Lou felt her face heat up but she answered honestly. “Yeah… I hope you don’t mind. I kind of wanted to take you for a drive. I text Emma to ask her not to pick you up.” She widened her eyes and added, “But if you don’t want to, I can totally call her to come get you instead.”

Ravi enthusiastically opened the passenger side door and said, “Wonderful. I’ve never ridden in a pickup truck before. How exciting!”

Lou bit the inside of her cheek. She thought he was adorable, and for the millionth time since he had called her beautiful on Saturday, she wanted to kiss him.

“Where should we go?” Ravi asked as she got into the driver’s seat.

“Want to pick out our corsage and boutonniere?” Lou asked. “They’re flowers for prom.”

“Sounds good,” Ravi said. “But then again, I’m good with anywhere as long as it’s with…” He smiled shyly out the window.

“With…” Lou said, holding her breath.

“You,” Ravi answered.

She didn’t care if he saw the dopey smile on her face or heard the lovesick way she sighed.

* * *

The rest of the week was a blur. Even the morning and afternoon on Saturday seemed to sped by for Lou. It was hair, makeup, pictures and suddenly she was sitting in the limo with Xander and Hazel.

“Guys, can you believe it. Our last dance,” Lou said with a smile at her best friend.

Hazel lifted herself up and moved from the other side of the limo to squish herself between Xander and Lou. She wrapped her arms around Xander’s bicep and leaned her head on his shoulder.

“This is going to be such a special night, Xandy,” Hazel said.

Xander gave Lou a look. Lou shrugged and said, “Oh let her have the next ten minutes. Branson is going to meet us at Emma and Ravi’s anyway.”

“Yeah, let me have this,” Hazel said as she snuggled into Xander.

“I’m really glad you’re here, Lou,” Xander said sweetly. “I couldn’t imagine this night without you.”

“Thanks, Xander,” Lou smiled. “Thanks to both of you actually. I know I didn’t think I wanted to go to prom. But I’m really happy to be here with you two. We’ve been through a lot since elementary school. And I’m glad we’re friends… well sort of friends for you, Hazel.”

Hazel lifted her head and smirked at Lou. “You’re only being nice to me cause I hooked you up with your dweeby little boyfriend.”

Lou smiled to herself. She said, “We’re just going to prom. And we’ve got the entire summer. He’s not my boyfriend… yet.”


End file.
